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GRACIA DURA BIN 
THE GRECIAN WIFE OF DR. TURNBULL 



Dr. Andrew Turnbull 

AND 

The New Smyrna Colony 
of florida 



Carita Doggett, A.B., A.M. 



L iinl 






ucu -b 1919 



CQL.1.A559I10 



To 
MY FATHER, 

Whose interest and encouragement 

made the work of this book 

a pleasure for me. 



Entered according to x\ct of Congress, in the year 1919 by Carita 
Doggett, in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 






FLORIDA 

THE DREW PRESS 

19 19 



PREFACE 

Every old inhabitant of Florida knows of 
Andrew Turnbull. Most tourists on the East 
Coast have read Susan Turnbull, that romantic 
and imaginary version of his Minorcan colony, 
by Archibald Clavering Gunter, and have taken 
pictures of the old Sugar Mill and ''Turnbull's 
Castle" at New Smyrna. If an old resident is 
asked about him, he says "Turnbull was a bad 
sort," — in fact Gunter makes a kind of wicked 
ogre out of him; so that about the great 
coquina ruins, cleft with palm trees, hovers a 
sinister mist of traditions. 

Reminders of Turnbull are plentiful through- 
out the State. On the palm covered banks of 
the North Indian River stands New Smyrna j 
itself, named for Smyrna, Asia Minor, the/ 
birthplace of Turnbull's wife. The pretty 
modern town is threaded with the main canals 
of the old colony and water still runs through 
them in a musical monotone, from TurnbuU's 



great hammock lands to the river. Every 
year a large winter colony returns to pictures- 
que homes and groves, and the new colonists 
spend many pleasant hours speculating over 
the works of their predecessors — the sunken 
pier, the lovely arches of the old Mission, 
many stone wells and the heavy foundations 
of the fort. Then the TurnbuU family has 
continued to be prominent in Florida, and the 
dark-eyed descendants of those Minorcans 
who came with him to New Smyrna, a hundred 
and fifty years ago, now live in St. Augustine 
and hand down among themselves lurid 
traditions of the old colony. Nothing depend- 
able from a historical standpoint has ever been 
attempted in regard to this, the largest colony 
which ever came to America in a body, but the 
strange chance of literary fortune preserved 
and gave prominence to the most garbled ac- 
count of Turnbull's management there. De- 
spite the fact that his contemporaries, Gover- 
nor Grant, Chief Justice Drayton, Schoepf, a 
German traveler, and Mease, a learned French- 
man, testified to his earnest devotion to his 

VI 



colonists, yet it remained for Bernard Romans, 
a civil engineer with a literary turn, to recall 
the frightful tales of his Minorcan draughts- 
man, and to write, for all subsequent his- 
torians, the story of Andrew Turnbull. Even 
his worst enemies did not in his day believe 
such stories as Romans set forth in his eloquent 
style. They made extravagant charges 
against him for political reasons, which were 
disproved by Turnbull in court, but Romans 
wrote, years after the events themselves, an 
account based on what ,his employee remem- 
bered. But he made a good story and 
Floridians became satisfied that they had har- 
bored a second King Leopold at New Smyrna. 

In the meantime, the real account had 
moved to London and settled in that treasure- 
house of romantic fact, the British Colonial 
Office. There it remained secure, like a reason- 
able man, biding his time, against a day when 
people would be ready and willing to hear the 
whole story. And it is so startlingly different 
from the present idea of Turnbull and his colo- 
nists that, it seems to me, both sides, if there 

VII 



remain sides on this question, may be inter- 
ested to learn of it for themselves. As is often 
the case in collecting the facts of a dispute, 
the source of the trouble was a far cry from 
Turnbull and his colonists ; and the trouble it- 
self insignificant, when considered in its 
proper place in the course of most interesting 
events. 

Only documentary evidence has been relied 
upon, no statements from secondary sources of 
information have been accepted without care- 
ful verification, and copies of all the original 
manuscripts have been collected and filed with 
the Florida Historical Society. These manu- 
scripts are the only copies in this country. A 
list of these papers has also been appended to 
this volume, and it will be evident at a glance 
how full and consecutive this information is. 
The phraseology and spelling from them have 
been faithfully copied, wherever quoted, and 
except for a very few obsolete words and one 
or two grammatical constructions, it will be 
readily seen that their authors might well rank 
as masters of modern English prose. 

VIII 



ABBREVIATIONS IN MONOGRAPHIC 
REFERENCES 

Public Record Office documents in London. 

C. O.— Colonial Office. 

(e. g. 5/544=Class 5, Volume 544). 

P. C— Privy Council. 

W. O.— War Office. 

T. — Treasury. 

A. O.— Audit Office. 



CHAPTER I 



THE OUTLAW PROVINCE 




LORIDA, in the first half of the 

Fil eighteenth century, was a thorn in 
W the side of the British colonies, for 
Spain carried on flanking attacks 
against their commerce and farm- 
ing from this outlaw stronghold. Carolina 
planters often lost their slaves across its bound- 
aries and the Spanish governor at St. Augus- 
tine refused to antagonize his Indian allies 
by commanding their return ; so many an 
English slave-hunting expedition, aggravated 
the quarrel by invading his territory in a search 
for their property. Pirates of the long, lonely 
coast line preyed on the tobacco exports and 
the sorely needed supply ships of England and 
her colonies, and finally the new Georgia set- 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

tlement, under Oglethorpe, raised a dispute in 
1736, over the Florida boundary line, which 
brought on twenty-nine years of open warfare 
between England and Spain. 

There followed the ridiculously weak at- 
tempts of Georgia to punish Florida, and 
retaliatory expeditions, by the Spaniards : Ogle- 
thorpe camped on Anastasia Island, opposite 
St. Augustine, and shelled the compact little 
fortress until his provisions gave out, and a 
Spanish fleet sailed into St. Simon's and drove 
the inhabitants inland. But nothing was de- 
cided by these excursions. In 1762, however, 
an astonishing coup by England started the 
international gamesters to trading. Havana, 
the pride and center of Spanish America, fell 
before a British force, and with this rich prize 
in her hands, England was ready to bargain 
for peace. This was arranged by the Peace of 
Paris in 1763, when Spain gave East and West 
Florida to England in exchange for Havana. 
At the same time, France yielded Canada to 

12 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

England, thus bringing to the highwater mark 
English power in the New World. 

At first sight, East and West Florida seem 
to us to have been an enormous price to pay 
for Cuba. East Florida was what we now 
know as Florida, minus the small section west 
of the Apalachicola River, while West Florida 
included the coast of Alabama, Mississippi and 
a part of Louisiana. This enormous region 
was practically undeveloped, however, in spite 
of one hundred and ninety years of Spanish 
rule. Three small towns (St. Augustine, 
Pensacola and Mobile) were the only attempts 
the Spanish had made at colonizing, and the 
seven thousand people who were divided 
among these tiny settlements were of the civil 
and military class and had received no en- 
couragement from Spain in agricultural ven- 
tures, therefore trade with the Indians was 
their only business. 

These Indians of Florida were a special 
problem in themselves, little understood by 

13 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

the settlers. It must be remembered that they 
were the bewildering fragments of many races ; 
exiles from Georgia tribes, old nations broken 
in power by Spanish invasions and wanderers 
seeking fresh hunting grounds, so that there 
was no league which had authority among 
them all, and, therefore, no means of reaching 
an agreement with them, such as Oglethorpe 
had made with the Creeks. The English 
governors were always at a loss to understand 
why, in spite of treaties and presents to many 
great chiefs, their settlements were continually 
plundered and cattle driven off by other Indians. 

In spite of these difficulties, England was 
encouraged to complete her coast possessions 
by the acquisition of Florida, feeling as she 
did that she had now proven herself the 
supreme genius among European powers in 
colonizing enterprises. From New England 
to Georgia, prosperous agricultural communi- 
ties showed the farmer a conqueror, while the 
French traders and Spanish soldiers were still 
lost in the immensity of their discoveries. Ac- 

14 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

cordingly, her plan of real estate development 
was started for Florida in 1763, and books by 
Bartram, Romans and other writers were the 
ancestors of that long line of literary praise of 
Florida which then, just as it does today, dealt 
less with the actual than with the fancied 
Florida. In those days, authors were given 
carte blanche to expatiate on the riches, beau- 
ties and luxuries of Florida life, as well as its 
mild climate, fine soil and valuable products. 
Parliament added a more substantial persua- 
sion for settlement in 1764, when five hundred 
pounds a year was set aside as a bounty for 
the raising of silk, cotton and indigo in East 
Florida, and extensive land grants were 
offered for development. For three years that 
bounty accumulated and Florida's praises con- 
tinued to be sung without moving the British 
public to respond. 

But there was in London at this time a gen- 
tleman of some wealth, who had lived in Asia 
Minor and other Mediterranean countries, 
where the climate was similar to Florida's. 

15 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

This man was Dr. Andrew Turnbull, a Scotch- 
man, whose acquaintance in London included 
the most influential and wealthy men. He con- 
vinced a number of them that a settlement in 
Florida by people accustomed to a warm cli- 
mate, and the growing of crops suited to that 
region, would not only be a good investment, 
but an enterprise encouraged by the govern- 
ment. Turnbull said he was sure of getting a 
large number of Greeks from Asia Minor to 
start a colony, for he had lived there for some 
years and knew that these people were very 
restive under the galling yoke of Turkey. He 
was not only thoroughly acquainted with the 
Greeks of this region, but about seven years 
previously he had married the daughter of a 
Greek merchant of Smyrna, Asia Minor, and 
he felt confident that he would be favorably 
received as a leader of such a colony to the new 
province of Florida. Though at that time a 
prosperous physician in London, forty-eight 
years old, he was willing to undertake this 
tremendous pioneer venture, and to bring his 

16 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

wife and family to Florida. His wife, Maria 
Gracia, was a no less dauntless spirit than he, 
and played a courageous part in this under- 
taking. The little miniature of Mrs. Turnbull 
shows her dressed in the height of Smyrnian 
fashion, with a small waist and high coiffure 
and a carriage erect to the point of hauteur, 
while the set to her lips shows her a lady of 
much determination and spirit, a true partner 
for a pioneer doctor. She faced the dangers 
of the savage new land resolutely, several times 
ran the affairs of the settlement when busi- 
ness took her husband to New York or Lon- 
don, and raised her seven children to take a 
creditable part in the history of Florida and 
South Carolina. Hers was indeed a life of 
more variety than was granted to most people 
of her day — to be reared in Asia Minor, to en- 
joy the life of London society as a young mar- 
ried woman, to establish her family in a wild 
land, beset by Indians, and to end her days in 
Charleston, the most aristocratic city of Colon- 
ial times, as a leader there by reason of her 

17 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

cosmopolitan charm and her husband's high 
position. At the time of the removal to 
Florida, she was thirty-three years old, at the 
height of her social career, so that it was a real 
sacrifice for her to bury herself in the wilder- 
ness, and in Turnbull's letters to the Earl of 
Shelburne, he said that he and his wife often 
thought with regret of the friends they had 
left at Bowood and at Shelburne House/^^ 

On April 2, 1767, the first partnership agree- 
ment concerning the colony was signed by An- 
drew Turnbull, Sir William Duncan and Sir 
Richard Temple, Commr. of the Navy/^^ Three 
adjoining grants of 20,000 acres each had been 
obtained, one for Duncan, one for Turnbull, one 
for Temple, the last as trustee in this affair for 
George Grenville and his heirs. This George 
Grenville was Prime Minister of England at 
the time, and felt that he should not act per- 

(1) Lib. of Congress, British Transcripts, Box 41, Lansdowne Mss. 

1219. fo. 34. 

(2) Treasury 71 p. Indenture of Mar. 9, 1781. 

18 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

sonally in the undertaking. The grants were 
to be operated for a period of seven years at 
a joint expense not exceeding 9000 pounds 
and any subsequent grants to the partners 
were to be treated in the same way. At the 
end of this period, equal division was to be 
made between the partners, a committee of 
seven disinterested persons determining the 
division, two chosen by each partner and one 
by the other six members of the committee. 
A description of the three equal lots should 
then be drawn from a box by the partners in 
turn.^^^ This was the original outline of the 
New Smyrna partnership plan which was 
destined to be changed twice thereafter. 

The first land grant issued to Turnbull on 
June 18, 1766, allowed him to select his tract 
of 20,000 acres of unclaimed land in East 
Florida, and therefore it devolved upon him to 
go to Florida and look over the country. He 
arrived there with his family in November, 

(1) Treasury 11/7, First Indenture. 

19 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

1767/^^ a month which a native knows is 
usually mild and clear, after the Equinoctial 
storms. He had to land at St. Augustine, the 
capital, and the only city on the East coast, 
and of course paid his respects at once to Gov- 
ernor Grant, who had already been there three 
years trying to clean up after the Spaniards. 
James Grant was a soldier who had played a 
prominent part in the capture of Havana, and 
his appointment as Governor of Florida was a 
direct acknowledgment of his services. St. 
Augustine had been partially burned and de- 
stroyed by the departing Spaniards, even the 
Spanish governor dismantling his beautiful 
garden in an outburst of hatred against the 
temporary English commander, a man of arbi- 
trary methods, who had aroused the bitterest 
opposition. Grant, however, was as fine an 
administrator as he vv^as a soldier, and his lit- 
tle capital had grown to three thousand inhabi- 
tants by this time. 

(2) CO. 5/541, pp 199-201, Grant to Shelburne. 

20 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

TurnbuU decided to establish his family here 
until the new colony was well started/^^ so he 
took one of the typical Spanish houses of the 
town, with balconies overhanging the narrow 
streets and a lovely garden behind high stone 
walls. Turnbull of course noted with pleasure 
the great variety of fruits and flowers which 
grew in his inner court. From the piazza, 
shaded by Tuscan pillars, he could see first 
the grape arbor before the entrance, and be- 
yond, his garden, as well as many others, 
contained fig, guava, plantain, pomegranate, 
lemon, lime, citron, shaddock, bergamot, China 
and Seville orange trees. The real beauty of 
Florida is a cultivated beauty which comes out 
today in the rare court of the Ponce de Leon 
Hotel at St. Augustine and the gardens at 
Palm Beach. Wild Florida landscape is un- 
kempt and weird, and Turnbull was glad to 
see how much could be done with intelligent 
care. He also enjoyed the climate, which was 
so temperate that, according to Moorish cus- 

(1) CO. 5/541, pp 199-201. 

21 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

torn, the houses had been built without fire- 
places. There were no windows on the north 
walls, and when a northeaster blew keen across 
Matanzas Inlet, a negro brought an urn of 
glowing coals and set it in his room. 

Governor Grant was noted for his hospi- 
tality and a brilliant company often gathered 
at his table to discuss and to settle peaceably 
the affairs of the province. ^^^ Though an auto- 
crat who brooked little opposition to his poli- 
cies, he was genial, and he took an immediate 
fancy to Dr. Turnbull, of whom it was said 
that wherever he went, he carried an atmos- 
phere of gaiety and good humor.^^^ And so 
Turnbull always found him a wise and liberal 
assistant throughout the troubles of the 
colony's first few years. This was the more 
remarkable because Grant was accounted 
stingy about government moneys, ^^^ and be- 
en Forbes, p. 19. 

(2) Charleston Gazette. Mar. 14. 1792. 

(3) CO. 5/555, PD 277-281. 

22 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

cause Turnbull favored a more democratic 
policy of government within the province than 
Grant allowed. 

Many prominent men from England and the 
colonies had moved to St. Augustine, among 
them, William Drayton, Chief Justice, and 
Major Moultrie, afterwards Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor of Florida. The former was to become 
Turnbull's lifelong friend, and the latter an un- 
relenting enemy. Other Englishmen who had 
come to Florida, like himself, to build up the 
new province, were Dennis Rolle, who had 
started a unique settlement on the St. Johns 
River, and Mr. Oswald, the owner of a large 
sugar plantation on the Halifax river; Sir 
Charles Burdett, Rev. John Forbes, the 
admiralty judge; Wm. Stark, the historian; 
Bernard Romans, civil engineer; William 
Bartram, naturalist, and Rev. Mr. Frazier. As 
Turnbull's settlement was by far the most 
ambitious thing ever attempted in Florida, he 
must have been the center of attention. Grant 
saw in him a powerful aid for his governing 

23 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

council, and Turnbull received his appoint- 
ment to it two months after his return to Eng- 
land/^^ On May 1, 1767, having been appointed 
Secretary and Clerk of the Council, he felt 
obliged to resign the office of Clerk of the 
Crown and Clerk of Common Pleas to which 
he had been appointed in September,^^^ while 
Grant reported to Lord Hillsborough that, in 
accordance with the King's command, ^^^ every 
effort would be made to assist Dr. Turnbull. 
William Gerard de Brahm, the government 
surveyor, was at once consulted as to the best 
lands available in East Florida and, with the 
advice of the other planters, Turnbull decided 
to visit Mosquito Inlet, the first large harbor 
south of St. Augustine and distant about 
seventy-five miles. This region was reported 
to include some of the most valuable lands in 
the province, and the year he arrived a colony 

(1) C/O 5/545 p. 25. 

(2) I^andsdowne Mss. Vol. 88, £.139. 

(3) CO. 5/549 p. 262. 

24 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

of ship builders had attempted a settlement 
there on account of the splendid trees in the 
vicinity/^^ 

He sailed down the coast, past what is now 
known as Ormond and Daytona Beaches, and 
entered Mosquito Inlet the morning of the 
second day. The deep blue waters, set in 
snowy sand-bars, admitted his ship to the 
North Indian River, passing by a circular lit- 
tle sheet of water, now known as TurnbuU's 
Bay. On either side the high shell bluffs were 
crowned with enormous live oaks, and beneath 
these the ground was clear of underbrush like 
a park, while beyond could be seen the rich 
green of a large wild orange grove, famous 
among the Indians for generations. Mag- 
nolias and green bay trees added graceful 
variety to the scene. This is the description by 
the famous naturalist, William Bartram, of the 
site of New Smyrna, which he visited ten years 
before the settlement was made.^^^ Bartram's 

(1) CO. 5/544 pp. 37-42. 

(2) Bartram's Travels, p. 142. 

25 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

young son dreamed of this spot for eighteen 
years after he saw it with his father, and re- 
turned to it when he had earned enough 
money in the Northern colonies to allow him 
to travel. The beauty and very apparent fer- 
tility of the place completely won TurnbuU, 
and he decided to spend his life and risk his 
fortune in this garden forest. Although a 
physician, the name ''Mosquito Inlet" held no 
warning for him, because science did not then 
connect the mosquito with the deadly malarial 
fevers which, in the next eight years, were to 
reduce this colony to half its original number. 
Moreover it was not until summer that he saw 
his people black with them as they worked at 
clearing the dense palmetto and vine-tied 
thickets, and found himself helpless without 
our modern methods of exterminating these 
pests, common to the whole Atlantic coast. 
Life promised much to the pioneer doctor and, 
in honor of his wife's birthplace, Smyrna, in 
Asia Minor, and in anticipation of his Greek 

26 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

settlers, he named the future settlement New- 
Smyrna. 

Turnbull was so impressed with the agri- 
cultural prospects of Florida that before he 
returned to England he purchased a large cot- 
ton plantation at the Mosquitoes and left an 
overseer in charge, with orders to buy cattle 
from Georgia and Carolina/^^ By the last of 
March, 1767, however, he was back in Eng- 
land, and presented his petition to make a set- 
tlement in Florida/^^ In his first grant from 
the crown there had been included twenty 
thousand acres for himself. Five subsequent 
grants to Duncan, Grenville and Turnbull, 
brought their whole tract to 101,400 acres. ^^' 
Lord Grenville, at this time head of the minis- 
try in England, was inclined to favor agricul- 
tural enterprises such as this, not only because 
he was Turnbull's partner, but in order to off- 



(1) Lansdowne Ms. Vol. 88 f. 133. 

(2) CO. 5/223 Vol. lettered Board of Trade No. 1. 

(3) Treasury 11 p , Memorial of Thomas Grenville, Esq. 

27 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

set the severity of his measures against smug- 
gling in the colonies. The Lords of Trade 
granted Turnbull's request for a sloop of war 
to be used as a transport, and the forty-five 
hundred pounds of bounty on East Florida 
products was represented by the young Lord 
Shelburne, secretary for the colonies, as neces- 
sary for starting the settlement. Four hun- 
dred pounds was to be used for roads, bridges 
and ferries, one hundred pounds for a ''Parson 
and Schoolmaster" and three pounds apiece 
for the cost of transportation of each colonist 
to the settlement. ^^^ It is, therefore, evident 
that the English government was as much 
interested in this undertaking as any share- 
holder in the Company. It also continued to 
give substantial assistance for at least four 
years thereafter. 



(1) CO. 5/563 p. 226-228; Lords of Trade to Shelburne. 

28 



CHAPTER II 
THE MAKING OF NEW SMYRNA 

ARLY in the Spring of 1767, Turn- 
bull set sail in his converted sloop 
to collect settlers from Greece. 
This vessel w^as manned and pro- 
visioned by Turnbull himself/^' no 
small investment for one individual in those 
days of slow travel, and as he proceeded to 
gather his colonists, his fleet grew to con- 
siderable size. He had difficulty, however, in 
persuading the Greeks to emigrate because 
the Turkish Government opposed his scheme. ^^^ 
Nevertheless he secured two hundred wild 




(1) Lransdowne, Vol. 88 f. 133. 

(2) Landsdowne Mss. Vol. 88 f. 147. 

29 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

tribesmen from the mountains in the southern- 
most part of the Peloponnesus, who had 
always defied Turkish rule and who lived 
under chiefs in a state of civil war, when thev 
were not fighting the Turks. These recruits 
did not produce a favorable impression on the 
Ottoman empire and when Turnbull sent a 
ship's crew ashore for water at Modon in the 
Morea, the commander of the garrison seized 
them as rebels. This officer was prevailed 
upon by presents to release them, but every- 
where the Turks placed obstacles in the way of 
the enterprise. ^^^ 

Finally Turnbull decided to go to Leghorn 
in Southern Italy for recruits, for the Gover- 
nor there agreed to allow Italians to sign con- 
tracts with him, on condition that he take no 
Genoese silk manufacturers. ^^^ One hundred 
and ten Italians joined the expedition, but 

(1) Lansdowne Ms. Vol. 88 f. 147. 

(2) Lansdowne Ms. Vol. 88 f. 135. 

30 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

when the governor saw that he was really 
about to lose these men, he sent many 
threatening messages to them. The British 
consul aided Turnbull in getting away with 
them, however, ^^^ and the Italians themselves 
told Turnbull that the majority of them were 
unemployed and strangers in the city of Leg- 
horn, and therefore liable to deportation at 
any time. His agreement with the set- 
tlers was, that they were to have their 
way paid and to be established on the Florida 
grant. After they had paid off their indebted- 
ness to the Company by from seven to eight 
years' labor, each was to receive fifty acres of 
land, with five additional acres for each child 
in his family. ^^^ If they were not contented 
with the land, they were to be allowed to return 
to their own country in six months. ^^^ 

While Turnbull was having difficulty in per- 
suading settlers to emigrate to Florida, news 

(1) I^ansdowne Ms. Vol. 88 f. 135. 

(2) Scboepf, pp. 233-236. 

31 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

reached him that crops in the island of Minorca 
had failed for the third consecutive year and 
that a large part of the farming population 
was on the verge of starvation. It seemed to 
him that these were the people who would join 
in an agricultural enterprise in a country that 
promised rich soil and plenty of land. Minorca 
had been an English possession since 1713, so 
it would not involve any bargaining with a 
foreign government or cause his colonists any 
uneasiness, such as might be occasioned by a 
change of allegiance. Although there was 
widespread discontent there, on account of 
England's policy of restricting the correspond- 
ence and activities of the Catholic priests of 
Minorca, she had promised Spain to allow them 
the freedom of their faith. She did not keep 
her treaty promises of freedom of religion in 
Minorca or Florida as she did in Canada, how- 
ever. In proof of this, one condition of Turn- 
bull's grants from the crown was that the set- 
tlers were all to be Protestants. ^^^ When Turn- 

(1) CO. 5/548 pp. 363-365. 

32 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

bull first received his grant, this did not promise 
to be a difficulty, for the original plan had 
been to obtain Greeks, and since the Greek 
Catholic Church has always been regarded by 
the Church of England as an affiliation, their 
church was not antagonistic to the Protestant 
provision of the grants. But Minorcans, 
though English subjects, were Roman Catho- 
lics, and if they were to be colonists, their re- 
ligion had to be ignored, as had been done in 
the other English colonies, Maryland excepted. 
Still, Turnbull argued, the situation did not 
promise to be any more acute in one colony of 
England, such as Minorca or Virginia, than in 
another, namely Florida. So when he decided 
to enlist the Minorcans, he allowed them to 
take a priest and monk with them, with letters 
and credentials from the Vicar General of 
Minorca. ^^^ 

The island of Minorca lies among a flock of 
sister islands under the lee of Spain in the 

(1) Unwritten History of St. Augustine, p. 222. 

33 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

Mediterranean. Its inhabitants are of Span- 
ish extraction and appearance, speak a lan- 
guage similar to Spanish, and are devout 
Catholics. Most of them belong to the farm- 
ing class, and, usually, they are sober, indus- 
trious and law-abiding, as Governor Grant 
testified w^hen he expressly stated that they 
refused, to a man, to join the riots of Greeks 
and Italians which broke out the year the 
colony was started. ^^^ 

In Minorca, Turnbull's project succeeded 
like wildfire. Crowds of starving people 
thronged the decks as soon as his ships 
dropped anchor in Port Mahon, the capital of 
Minorca under English rule, and one of the 
finest harbors in the Mediterranean. ^^^ They 
begged him to take three times as many of 
them as he had planned, because they were in 
such pitiable condition that their Bishop had 
even been obliged to dispense them from the 
Ecclesiastical law of fast and abstinence. '^^ 

(1) CO. 5/544 pp. 37-42, Grant to Hillsborough. 

(2) EJncyclopedia Britannica, Vol. XVIII, p. 554. 

(3) Unwritten History of St. Augustine, p. 202. 

34 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

Now, there was another clause of TurnbuU's 
grant which made him eager for as many set- 
tlers as possible. It provided that if one-third 
of his land was not settled in three years, in 
the proportion of one person to every hundred 
acres, the whole should be forfeited to the 
Crown, and that if the remainder was not so 
settled in ten years, it was likewise to be for- 
feited/^^ Therefore, he was delighted rather 
than daunted by the increasing size of his col- 
ony, and gave his approval when many of the 
Italians in the expedition married Minorcan 
girls, who were thus recruited for the colony. ^^^ 
Turnbull had already enough land in the 
Company's name for six hundred people 
and was planning for more grants, so he at 
once proceeded to enlarge his fleet to eight 
ships. The enormous increase in the expense 
of the undertaking seemed to him to be worth 
the risk, since he had complete Government 

(1) CO. 5/548. p. 363-365, Land Grant to Turnbull. 

(2) Lansdowne Ms. Vol. 88. fo. 133. 

35 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

support. Lord Hillsborough, successor to 
Lord Shelburne in charge of the colonies, was 
indeed delighted when he heard of the sud- 
den increase in numbers, calling it a "Noble 
addition" to Florida's settlement/^^ Turnbull, 
however, had yet to learn that one may have 
too much, even of such a good thing, as will 
develop later. By March 10, 1768, a letter 
from Hillsborough to the Governor of Florida 
informed him that Turnbull had finally sailed 
from Minorca. ^^^ 

Thus Turnbull scoured the Mediterranean 
for recruits, and collected a heterogeneous com- 
pany — unruly Greek tribesmen of a strange 
language and different religion from the 
others, devout Roman Catholic farmers and a 
small but turbulent band of Italians. Being 
on the ground, Turnbull saw a great oppor- 
tunity for England's colonies in these settlers. 
His vision was very large and he wrote that 

(1) CO. 5/549, p. 81, Hillsborough to Grant. 

(2) CO. 5/549, Hillsborough to Grant. 

36 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

many thousands of Italians and Greeks could 
be sent to America if the ships could be ob- 
tained to recruit them. Governor Grant, look- 
ing upon the practical aspect of this one col- 
ony, humorously declared, ''I flatter myself I 
shall be able to keep them (the Indians) 
quiet — but to prevent the Greeks, Italians and 
Mahonese^^^ from doing mischief * * * * to 
themselves" he considered a harder problem/^^ 
This farsighted official, on hearing that 
Minorcans were among the colonists, called 
the Indians in the vicinity of New Smyrna to- 
gether, and explained to them, ''that the 
people at the Mosquitoes^^^ were not the 
English but that they were Subjects 
to the Great King — that they lived upon a lit- 
tle Island in a warm climate — that they had 
been oppressed by the Spaniards and hated 
them, and had come here to help their Broth- 
ers, the English/'^^^ In this way. Grant tried 

(1) Minorcans. 

(2) CO. 5/544, pp. 37-42, Grant to Hillsborough. 

(3) The vicinity of New Smyrna was known as the "Mosquitoes" because 

of Mosquito Inlet, the outlet of the North Indian River. ^ 

37 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

to keep the Indians from avenging hundreds 
of years of Spanish cruelty upon the people 
who so closely resembled them. He was par- 
tially successful, in spite of the fact that the 
government was slow to build a fort to pro- 
tect the colony. After he left the country, the 
Indians were loosed on these unfortunate peo- 
ple by Turnbull's political enemies, so that it 
is small wonder that they found life unsup- 
portable at Mosquito. 

When the colonists at length left Gibraltar 
and started for the open Atlantic, there were 
about fifteen hundred souls in all, divided 
among the eight ships. ^^^ This was the largest 
colony at its start that had ever come to the 
New World. ^^^ The Virginia colony at James- 
town did not exceed five hundred people at any 



(1) CO. 5/541, p. 427. The names of the ships and number of colonists 

in each were as follows : 

Charming Betsy 232 New Fortune 226 

Henry and Carolina 142 Hope 150 

Elizabeth 190 x^merican Soldier 145 

Friendship 198 Betsy 120 

Men, women and children 1403 

(2) CO. 5/541, pp. 423-424 Grant to Hillsborough. 

38 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

time until it passed from a proprietary to a 
royal government; and it took the Massachu- 
setts colony seven years to work up to fifteen 
hundred people. 

In addition to the settlers, the ships carried 
''cotton gins for the cleaning of cotton and 
other models of engines of agriculture, "^^^ and 
the carefully packed cuttings for grapes, olives 
and mulberries. A realization of the magni- 
tude of his undertaking did not daunt Turn- 
bull. He v^rote to Lord Shelburne when he 
sailed: ''Though I have heard. My Lord, that 
America is now separated from your Depart- 
ment, as your Lordship's assistance and en- 
couragement engaged me to enter into the 
colonizing scheme in a much larger way than 
I at first intended, I will trouble you now and 
again with an account of how my little colony 
goes on."^^* 

The British frigate Carysfort agreed to act 

(1) Lans. Ms. Vol. 88 f. 147. 

(2) Ivans. Ms. Vol. 88, f. 147. 

39 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

as convoy for the transports to Gibraltar, to 
protect them from the Barbary pirates/^^ and 
they intended to start on March 29, 1767, but 
at the last minute Turnbull found that instead 
of losing colonists by desertion as he had ex- 
pected, he had more than he could carry, on 
account of the eager enlistment of the Minor- 
cans/^^ Luckily he secured a Danish ship to 
carry his overflow as far as Gibraltar and, 
since it could not go further, hired two small 
English vessels for the journey overseas. 

At Gibraltar, the Earl of Shelburne's recom- 
mendations secured Turnbull every attention, 
and Commodore Spry ordered the Carysfort 
to convoy his eight vessels, full of colonists, as 
far as the Madeiras, because reports had come 
in of raids by Algerian pirates upon Dutch and 
French shipping. 

The English government rightly considered 

(1) I.ans. Ms. Vol. 88, f. 151. 

(2) I,ans. Ms. Vol. 88, f. 145. 

40 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

this a most important and promising enter- 
prise, and for a time at least gave it all the 
assistance possible. Florida bade fair to catch 
up with the other colonies in giant strides. 
To readers today, it will seem incredible that 
an undertaking of this magnitude should have 
been launched the very year the Stamp Act 
was repealed — that wealthy men and states- 
men would have invested their own and the 
Government's money in a colony while open 
rebellion and clashes with the government 
officials over the rigid enforcement of smug- 
gling penalties were spreading in every Eng- 
lish colony in America. It is indeed a far cry 
from present day investments, which rise and 
fall like a barometer in response to the changes 
in the political atmosphere. English states- 
men were very ignorant and indifferent to 
American public opinion, even upon such a 
stirring subject as the Stamp Act. ''There 
was not the smallest evidence that either Pitt 
or Cumberland, or any of the other statesmen 
who were concerned with the negotiation, 

41 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

at St. Augustine, the other four having fallen 
a little to the north. "They dropt in slowly," 
wrote Governor Grant, ''but all of them got 
safe to this Port."^^^ The Spanish houses, and 
general plan of St. Augustine were a pleasing 
sight to the Latin portion of the immigrants, 
and they remembered the close walled town 
throughout their residence in New Smyrna, 
and, after eight years, returned to it in a body, 
to live under its friendly shelter. At this time, 
however, they were dispatched at once by land 
and water to the Mosquitoes, to prepare for 
the other settlers who were delayed. As 
always happens when a large and elaborate 
plan approaches its culmination, many import- 
ant phases went wrong. A ship containing 
five hundred negroes, who had been purchased 
and brought direct from Africa to clear the 
land and do the first rough work of the settle- 
ment, was wrecked on the southern coast of 
Florida, and all hands were lost.^^^ 

(1) CO. 5/544, pp. 37-42, Grant to Hillsborough. 

(2) Schoepf, pp. 233-236. 

44 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

Strenuous measures were necessary to take 
care of such a great company of people, sud- 
denly set down in a wild country. Gover- 
nor Grant had had four months provisions 
placed there^^^ and some great shacks erected 
for living quarters/^^ but the families were 
crowded for shelter and sleeping during the 
first weeks of organization, for, since nearly 
three times as many people had come as were 
expected, they were not prepared for them. 
Hominy was cooked in huge copper kettles in 
the open, and at meal time a drum summoned 
the workers from the woods to line up for their 
share of food. Clothes by the wholesale, of 
heavy durable material, and mostly of uniform 
pattern, were distributed, so as to save the 
colonists what was left of their wardrobes. 
Most of them were badly off, in the first place, 
so far as clothes were concerned, and this, 
therefore, was a much needed measure. 
Strange to say, however, all of these ways of 

(1) CO. S/549, p. 49, Grant to Hillsborough. 

(2) CO. 5/549, pp. 77-78. 

45 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

caring for the settlers were mentioned as great 
grievances by their historian, Romans. This 
was the accepted way of providing for people 
in new colonies, the way that the Virginia, 
Georgia, Plymouth and Carolina colonists had 
lived for the first years of their pioneer life, 
but these people are reported to have been dis- 
appointed because they encountered these 
hardships. 

Governor Grant gives a more favorable re- 
port of them, however. He says that by Aug- 
ust 10, 1768, they were all located on planta- 
tions, appeared contented and pleased with 
their prospects and were obedient to their 
overseers. ^^^ In the directing of so many peo- 
ple for a division of labor and for information 
on their needs and progress, overseers were 
selected, partly from their own number and 
partly imported from the Northern colonies, 
the latter because of their knowledge of New 
World agriculture. Many of the colonists 

(1) CO. 5/544, pp. 37-42, Grant to Hillsborough. 

46 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

were entirely ignorant of the methods of clear- 
ing and planting, all of them had to learn how 
to raise hemp, cotton and indigo, the articles 
on which England had placed a bounty. But 
these English overseers came from plantations 
where negroes had been used as laborers and, 
in addition to being unable to understand the 
language of their Minorcan, Italian and Greek 
charges, they made themselves unpopular by 
their arbitrary manner and impatience at what 
they claimed was the stupidity and laziness of 
some of the settlers. Also, the colonists had 
all come, as generations before and after them, 
with dreams of ease and plenty to be enjoyed 
without work in Florida. So it was not long 
before peremptory commands and the strict 
discipline necessary to preserve order in the 
new colony brought about a clash between the 
unruly element and their directors. 



47 



CHAPTER III 
THE UPRISING OF 1768<i) 

LL seemed peaceful and busy on 
August 8, 1768, two months after 
the last colonist had arrived at 
New Smyrna, when Turnbull 
brought some planters from the 
Carolinas down to see the progress his set- 
tlers had made. The distinguished visi- 
tors rode over the fields where brush and 
pine stumps were burning, the fresh-cut 
outlines of the farms were just showing and 
the great wharfs and wells were be- 
ing built of coquina. Turnbull showed them 




(1) CO. 5/544, pp. 37-42. 

(This account is based upon Governor Grant's report to Hillsborough 
and the lyOrds of Trade of the occurrence). 



49 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

the quarries of this curious rock which is com- 
posed of innumerable tiny shells, held together 
by a natural cement, a rough and durable ma- 
terial which the Spaniards had used to build 
the fort and sea-wall at St. Augustine. The 
colonists were much awed by the splendid 
equipment and retinue with which these visi- 
tors traveled, but the visitors "were equally 
impressed by the extent of the undertaking be- 
fore them. They saw that this was the larg- 
est number of people which had ever come to 
the colonies in one body; that the possibilities 
of the country were at last to be found in agri- 
culture, instead of myths of gold and silver, 
and that within his grasp Turnbull held the 
realization of all the visions of past invaders 
of this strange land. They declared to their 
delighted host that this colony bade fair to 
be "the best in all the British provinces,'' and 
added that their own experienced laborers 
could not have done better than these people 
in preparing the plantations. 

That day the distinguished company rode 

50 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

on its way to St. Augustine, accompanied by 
Dr. Turnbull, and stopped for the night at Mt. 
Oswald, the large sugar cane plantation on the 
Halifax River. The natural surroundings of 
this country seat are today the wonder and 
delight of tourists at Daytona and Ormond. 
But how different was life there then! These 
planters lived on their huge land grants, sur- 
rounded by slaves and in danger of Indians. 
They could only reach St. Augustine by rough 
corduroy roads or a sail down the coast, with 
the possibility of being captured by pirates, and 
they were now about to be treated to a new 
realization of the vicissitudes of pioneer life. 
On the night of the 19th, they sat around the 
great hall in Mr. Oswald's home, resting from 
their tour of inspection, until about ten o'clock, 
when they retired, in order to be ready to start 
on their way to St. Augustine the next morn- 
ing. At midnight an express rider dashed up 
to the quiet house and hammered on the door, 
calling for Dr. Turnbull. Candles were hur- 
riedly lit by the house servants and the dis- 

51 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

tracted messenger admitted to the doctor's 
room, where he delivered himself of a tale of 
black calamity. It seemed that Carlo Forni, 
one of the Italian overseers, that very morn- 
ing, about eleven o'clock, had marched into the 
square, at New Smyrna, at the head of twenty 
malcontents, and delivered a speech to the set- 
tlers, who left their work and crowded around 
the storehouse to hear him. He declared him- 
self commander-in-chief of the Italians and 
Greeks, whom he intended to lead to Havana. 
Spain, he argued, would be glad to protect 
them from the English, and they would be 
freed from this life of hard work and stern 
masters. The sandv, desolate shores of 
Florida held nothing but sickness and danger 
for them and he was prepared to deliver them 
from all their troubles. As he talked, the 
crowd grew excited. Clotha Corona, one of 
his Greek followers, broke the door of the 
storehouse and casks of rum were rolled into 
the street. At this moment. Cutter, one of the 
English overseers, arrived on the scene and 

52 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

tried to order the crowd away. He was 
wounded in the struggle with Forni's men and 
locked in one of the closets of the storeroom. 
Excited with this violence and by the rum, 
which was now circulating freely in the mob, 
the adherents of Froni rapidly increased until 
they numbered about three hundred. They 
seized firearms and ammunition in the store- 
house and compelled the Minorcans to submit 
to their commands, though the latter refused 
to a man to join the rioting. For this, their 
dwellings were plundered and their belongings 
thrown into the road. But other and richer 
prizes soon diverted the mob. A ship of pro- 
visions, lying in the river, was seized, and the 
work of loading her for the trip to Cuba com- 
menced. Clothes, blankets, linen and fishing 
tackle were carried down to the shore by the 
hundreds of armfuls, and the rum and oil 
casks which could not be loaded were staved 
in in the streets. The number of men actively 
implicated included nearly all the Greeks and 
Italians in the colony, and Carlo Forni threat- 

53 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

ened that anyone who tried to escape and 
warn the authorities would be put to death. 
Nevertheless, two faithful Italians slipped into 
the swamp at dusk and made their way to 
Turnbull's plantation, four miles from New 
Smyrna. There was no one but the overseer 
in charge here and their terrified version of the 
course of events, as delivered to him, sounded 
like the end of New Smyrna's young settle- 
ment. So he sent an "express" rider through 
the woods that very evening, and this was the 
story that had reached the doctor at midnight 
and dashed his high hopes for his model settle- 
ment. As he sat and listened, he saw one 
hundred and sixty thousand dollars, which in- 
cluded his own fortune, and the money of his 
powerful friends, sunk in a community of 
violent and unprincipled men. Two years of 
hard preparatory work gone, extensive plans 
half executed, and himself a ruined man. But 
he roused himself at once, and thanked God 
that his wife and children were still in St. 
Augustine, waiting the completion of their new 

54 



The new SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

home. He dismissed the messenger for rest 
and refreshment, and sat down at once to 
write Governor Grant a full account of what 
had happened. He asked that help be sent 
him at once to New Smyrna, where he was 
returning that very night in the hope of check- 
ing the uprising. And, in the small hours of 
the morning, another express rider started at 
top speed for St. Augustine, while Turnbull 
bade goodbye to his friends and former guests, 
and set his face toward New Smyrna. 

He arrived at his plantation some time in the 
morning of the 20th, and at once started, with 
a small company of servants, to rescue his 
wounded overseer. The marauders were down 
at the waterfront, loading their spoils, and the 
terrified Minorcans were hiding in their quar- 
ters, so he went down the littered street to 
the storehouse without interruption. Cutter 
was soon located and brought out — one of his 
ears and two fingers had been cut off and 
continued bleeding and severe handling had 
reduced him to a serious condition. All other 

55 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

considerations faded before the need for the 
services of a doctor, and so Turnbull had Cut- 
ter carried back to the plantation, where he 
treated his wounds and cared for him, while 
waiting for word from the Governor. 

The next day passed without events of any 
moment. Messengers from New Smyrna re- 
ported to Turnbull that the mutineers did not 
seem to be hurrying to leave, that they were 
feasting and drinking aboard their ship most 
of the night and had not yet finished loading. 
Cutter was very ill all day and required con- 
stant attention, raving at his imagined assail- 
ants. The night came, and with it word that 
the rebel ship would sail on the morning's tide, 
so it was an anxious vigil for the doctor. Early 
in the morning, he rode over to the shore and 
mournfully watched the sails go up on the 
crowded vessel, as it moved down the river and 
out of sight, to anchor at the bar and wait for 
the eleven o'clock tide. The loss of three 
hundred able-bodied men out of the colony 
was a staggering blow, not to mention thou- 

56 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

sands of dollars worth of supplies and the ship. 
He turned his horse and rode slowly along 
the bank toward Mosquito Inlet. Suddenly, 
within a mile of the bar, he heard a gun fired 
and his heart leaped with excitement and re- 
newed hope. He dashed along the shore and 
reached the Inlet in time to see the East 
Florida, with another vessel behind her, sail 
down upon the escaping ship, on the very tide 
which was to have carried her off to Cuba. 
The rebel's deck was swarming with terrified 
men who waved white rags and showed that 
they were ready to surrender. Before the 
government ships could get to her, however, 
Turnbull saw about thirty-five men escape in 
an open boat and row frantically around the 
wooded shore. A few hours later, he met the 
officer in charge of the relief expedition at the 
wharf, and watched with immense relief the 
unloading of his property by the frightened 
mutineers, who had been deserted by their 
leader and his accomplices. They eagerly 
obeyed the soldiers in charge of them. In 

57 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

talking with the captain, he heard how Grant 
had received his letter the evening of the day 
he had sent it, had loaded his ships all night 
long and sent them out on the 21st. Two days 
sail had completed their journey and brought 
them to New Smyrna in the nick of time. 
Turnbull felt very happy at this moment; 
realizing that most of these mutineers were like 
simple sheep following a few ringleaders as 
blundering as they were lawless, he recom- 
mended that only a few of the most guilty be 
taken to St. Augustine for trial. Inquiry 
among the insurgents proved that they were 
as enraged with their leaders on account of 
their desertion, as Turnbull was for their law- 
lessness. , 

As soon as things were quiet again, and 
Turnbull was sure that a small guard could 
maintain order in the colony, the relief expe- 
dition sent one ship in search of the ringlead- 
ers, whom they expected to catch easily, while 
the other returned to St. Augustine. A strange 
chase for the escaped men took place down the 

58 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

long Open coast. It was four months before 
the government ship overtook them on the 
Florida Keys, and then it is probable that 
their dreadful hardships had made them 
anxious to be caught. All through the Fall 
season of terrible northeast storms, these 
thirty-five men had traveled in an open boat 
along the shore, camping and hunting some- 
times, not daring to stay long on land for fear 
of Indians and wild beasts, or long on water 
because of storms and their pursuers. It is 
small wonder that their wretched appearance 
moved the jurors in St. Augustine to pity. 
Governor Grant himself wrote to the Earl of 
Hillsborough that he thought the men had 
been punished enough by their experience, and 
that justice dealt to two or three flagrant 
offenders would be sufficient for the whole 
three hundred. So three were finally convicted 
of piracy, and one of these pardoned on a 
curiously cruel condition — that he be the 
executioner of the other two. (English law 
was still very severe in those days — there is a 

59 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

petition from the Governor of Massachusetts 
about this time, asking that the death penalty 
for forgery be changed). The two men who 
were executed were Carlo Forni, guilty of lead- 
ing the insurrection, and the man who was 
responsible for the death of Cutter, who had 
since succumbed to his wounds. Three 
Greeks, convicted of less violent crimes, were 
pardoned by Grant on the recommendation of 
Hillsborough. Turnbull estimated his losses, 
after affairs had settled down, at four or five 
hundred pounds. In the light of the English 
law of the day and its heavy penalties, the 
offenders at New Smyrna were certainly gently 
dealt with, just as all wise and enlightened 
authorities usually manage a large number 
of lawbreakers. The whole three hundred of 
them were guilty of piracy; but their future 
good conduct was assured by lenient measures. 
All previous accounts of this uprising have 
been based upon Bernard Romans' version, 
which he included in his ''History of Florida," 
on the authority of his irresponsible youthful 

60 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

draughtsman. All subsequent historians are 
unanimous in pronouncing Romans' History 
as lurid and unreliable, yet they took his word 
for a most barbarous recital of cruelty on 
Turnbull's part, and none of them consulted 
the detailed report of this affair by the gover- 
nor of the province to the British Secretary of 
State, surely a most sane and authoritative 
source of information, and the one on which 
this account is based/" 

Yet we may surely draw our own conclu- 
sions from the course of events themselves. 
The leaders of the revolt could not have had 
the welfare of the whole community at heart, 
for they planned to leave New Smyrna in a 
ship which had a capacity of not more than 
one-fifth of the people, and they destroyed the 
provisions they could not take with them. 
Also, they were not even capable of effecting 
their own escape, but spent three days in riot- 
ing and drinking — enough time for two govern- 

(1) CO. 5/544, Grant to Hillsborough, pp. 37-42. 

61 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

ment ships to load troops and make the jour- 
ney from St. Augustine. So this rebellion was 
nothing more than the haphazard rioting of 
lawless men who used rum and vain promises 
to lead their unthinking companions into 
mischief. 

Governor Grant summed up the affair by 
saying it was to be expected that a large num- 
ber of people imported from all parts of the 
world to a new country would have such 
troubles ; and he ended his report by recom- 
mending that a fort be built at New Smyrna 
for the double purpose of protecting the set- 
tlers from the Indians and of protecting the 
other planters from the settlers. ^^^ Already, 
he said, the plantations around New Smyrna 
were the most prosperous in Florida, and de- 
served the utmost care from the Government. 
A fort was accordingly started but never 
finished, though a guard of a sergeant and 
eight men was stationed there permanently. ^^^ 



(1) CO. 5/544, pp. 37-42. 

(2) CO. 5/552, p. 97-99. 



62 




CHAPTER IV 

ENGL.AND LENDS FINANCIAL AID 

fY December 1st, Grant wrote the 
home Government that the Greeks 
and Italians were quiet, but that 
scurvey had broken out, as a result 
of their long sea voyage and the 
scarcity of fresh foods at that season of the 
year; so that the settlement had lost about 
three hundred old people and children from 
sickness. ^^^ The remedy of green vegetables 
and fruits was not far off, however, for, 
he said, the gardens of that vicinity were 
about as far advanced as they were in England 
by the end of April and, with a touch of plant- 

(1) CO. 5/544, pp. 99-102, Grant to Hillsborough. 

63 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

er's pride, ''I took care to save a considerable 
quantity (of seeds) for Mr. Turnbull from my 
own garden, of which a grain does not fail 
here." 

A clear statement of coming financial 
troubles occurs in this same letter which 
Grant wrote to the Earl of Hillsborough, the 
new Secretary for the colonies. ''Twenty 
thousand pounds sterling * * * have already 
been laid out for the Embarkation, Provisions 
and Clothing of those people." Certainly this 
does not sound like an illiberal scale so far. 
He continued, "So large a Sum is not to be re- 
covered but by perseverance and a further 
Expense, the settlers may do a little for them- 
selves in the course of the Winter and Spring, 
but they must be subsisted for many months 
and clothed at least for two years before Re- 
turns can reasonably be expected — though 
they are supplied with Economy and good 
management — I am much afraid that the Ex- 
pense of supporting so large a Settlement will 

64 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

be found too considerable for private pockets/^' ^ 
I give Mr. Turnbull every little assistance in 
my power, and I can safely say that I am as 
anxious about his success as he can be himself; 
but unless your Lordship is pleased to take 
this Greek Settlement under your Protection 
and include it in the Estimate for 1769, I am 
apprehensive that Mr. Turnbull will find great 
difficulty in carrying the projected plan into 
Execution — it is upon a larger bottom than 
was concerted with his Friends at home, and 
has already far exceeded double the Sum which 
they agreed to advance, for which reason. My 
Lord, I am under some uneasiness about the 
future Conduct of those Gentlemen, they may 
probably tire of paying the large and frequent 
Bills, which Mr. Turnbull is under the abso- 
lute necessity of drawing upon them — their 
affairs certainly could not be in better hands, 
the Doctor is active, intelligent and assidu- 



(1) This is the difficulty in a nutshell — the same difficulty which caused 
the other British colonies to be taken from their companies by the 
Crown. 

65 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

ous — but his Friends, tho' they have the high- 
est opinion of Mr. Turnbull's integrity and 
Ability may possibly be alarmed at risking such 
large sums in a New World without a more 
immediate prospect of Returns for their 
Money — what I now mention to your Lord- 
ship is entirely from my private opinion for 
I am sure the Doctor is convinced of my 
Friendship and good wishes — I cannot help 
considering the dreadful situation which the 
Doctor and his Greeks would be reduced to, 
if such a misfortune was to happen, a single 
Bill being returned, My Lord, would put a 
total stop to his Credit — in such a case of 
necessity I must run the risk, draw upon the 
Treasury for the subsistence of those adven- 
turers and depend upon your Lordship's pro- 
tection to support me in what I do — tho' this 
affair. My Lord, has hung heavy upon my 
mind, since the Landing of so great a number 
of people at a time, without any previous pro- 
vision being made for them, and without the 
consent of the other parties concerned, as the 

66 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

Mahonese crowded in unexpectedly upon Mr. 
Turnbull."^^' 

Turnbull had six thousand pounds to start 
with, and the British Government had only 
promised him a bounty on the first five hun- 
dred colonists, so that the whole scale of his 
settlement was according to his expected five 
hundred people; but, when the hundreds of 
starving Minorcans had thronged the decks of 
his transports, and begged to be taken from 
their famine stricken land, his enthusiasm was 
aroused by the prospect of such a wonderful 
colony. It seemed reasonable to him to sup- 
pose that if five hundred settlers were eagerly 
welcomed to Florida, fourteen hundred would 
be even more acceptable, especially when they 
were of the much needed farming class. But 
he was beginning to learn that there were many 
fatal and inevitable complications awaiting 
him. 

By the 4th of March, 1769, the health of the 

(1) CO. 5/544, pp. 99-102, Grant to Hillsborough. 

67 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

colonists had been restored and they had 
cleared seven miles of water front along the 
Hillsborough, now the North Indian River/^^ 
Each farm house was set 210 feet from the 
next along the river, with its allotted acreage 
running back, and Turnbull, whose Mediter- 
ranean travels had lasted over many years, 
wrote that they reminded him of Egyptian 
farms along the Nile/^^ Their gardens were 
well started and the drainage of the rich 
swamp lands was progressing in a thorough 
and scientific way. But the bills were pouring 
in now, and every time Turnbull had to send a 
ship for provisions and clothing he did not 
know whether payment on them would be 
stopped or not. To avoid drawing any more 
money, he would wait until the last possible 
moment to replenish his stores. Governor 
Grant understood his predicament perfectly 
and knew his reluctance to call upon his friends 
any further, but he would not allow him to 

(1) CO. 5/544, pp. 200-201, Grant to Hillsborough. 

(2) Lansdowne Ms. Vol. 88, f. 155. 

68 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

run too great a risk or depend on an exact date 
for a sailing vessel's arrival. "I have always 
recommended to him to have Six Months pro- 
visions constantly in store. Mr. Turnbull, just 
as I expected, finds himself, this moment very 
much pinched for provisions as his Supplies 
have not arrived exactly to the time and he 
writes that he has only Indian Corn for a 
Month at the Mosquitoes. I shall take care 
to prevent his being distressed, tho' I have no 
objection to his being a little uneasy," says the 
Governor humorously, ''and therefore without 
telling him or anybody else, I have sent the 
"East Florida" to Charleston with directions 
to load her with Indian Corn, and with private 
orders to the Captain to proceed directly to 
New Smyrna, tho' I give out here that the 
Vessel is going to Savannah for Lumber. "^^^ 
So, even if Turnbull had allowed provisions 
to run low, this able Governor watched the 
colony too closely to allow it to suffer from 
hunger. In fact there appears to be ample 

(1) CO. 5/544, pp. 200-201, Grant to Hillsborough. 

69 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

proof of the care that was centered on these 
people. 

Governor Grant's eloquent plea to Hills- 
borough of the worthiness of Dr. Turnbull's 
cause induced the Lords of the Treasury to 
allow him two thousand pounds for the support 
of the settlement, when further payments were 
stopped by the London Company, which, by 
July 21, 1769, had expended twenty-eight 
thousand pounds. Grant wrote to Hills- 
borough again, to tell him that the two thou- 
sand pounds would not be sufficient for the 
support of the colony, and urged that the East 
Florida bounty of five hundred pounds a year 
be continued for the benefit of New Smyrna. '^^ 
It is evident that great pressure was brought 
to bear upon Dr. Turnbull to obtain returns 
for such an enormous outlay. Grant reported, 
September 1, 1770, ''Dr. Turnbull is diligent 
and assiduous, he resides constantly with his 
Greek colonists and does as much as man can 

(1) CO. 5/544, pp. 213-214. 

70 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

do, to repair the first fault of exceeding the 
number of people to be Imported. "^^^ The set- 
tlers raised a considerable amount of provis- 
ions, such as Indian corn, peas, potatoes and 
greens of all kinds, but the scarcity of money 
for the further work of the colony is evident 
from the rest of Grant's letter. ''They are 
destitute of every convenience, they are ill 
clothed, many of them almost naked — and are 
obliged to live in small Huts put up in a hurry 
to shelter them from the Weather upon their 
first arrival. Dr. Turnbull has neither money 
nor credit to supply them with clothes and has 
not the necessary Tools and Materials to build 
Houses for them, in that distressed situation 
he can only look up to His Majesty for his 
most gracious support by ordering the Royal 
Bounty to be continued to enable him to carry 
an extensive and useful undertaking into 
Execution with Success — he presses me to lay 
his case before Your Lordship and to trans- 

(1) CO. 5/545, pp. 33-34. 

71 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

mit for Your Lordship's consideration an in- 
dent of such things as are absolutely necessary 
for the existence of the settlement. "^^^ This 
indent is interesting because it gives an idea 
of how extensive financially even a few items 
for the colony could be. It reads: 

"Indent of Clothing, Tools, etc., wanted for the 
Distressed Greek Settlement at Smyrna, under the 
direction of Andrew Turnbull, Esq., 

Best blue plains — 3000 yards atJ4 s per yard,. 200 pounds 
Best white plains — 500 yards at J4 s per yard 33. 6. 8 
Check't Linnens — 3000 yards at 1- per yard.. 150 
Strip't Linnens — 2000 yards at 1- per yard.. 100 
Strip't Cottons — 500 yards at ^ d per yard.. 31. 5 
Scots Osnabruggs<2) 4000 yards at 6 d per yard 100 

Negro Blankets — 600 at 5s each 150 

Men's shoes of different sizes — 600 pr at 

% d per pair 100 

Indigo Sickles 60 doz'n at 8/6 d per Dozen.. 25. 10 
Broad Hoes, Crowley's of a middling size 

60 Dozen at 20/ per Dozen.... 60 
Building nails the greatest part Six penny.. 100 



Lbs 1050. 18 



Another shortage of provisions in October, 
1770, was caused by Carolina planters who 



(1) CO. 5/545, pp. 33-34. 

(2) A coarse kind of linen. 

n 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

sold their promised cargo to a Spanish vessel, 
instead of sending it to New Smyrna. A sub- 
stitute cargo was secured by Grant, however. 

While Grant was trying to help him with 
the Government, Turnbull had made a new 
arrangement with his partners, to meet the 
increased scale of his settlement. ^^^ On Oc- 
tober 2, 1769, Duncan and Temple agreed to 
pay 24,000 pounds on the colony if the shares 
in the property were divided into fifths, giving 
them each two-fifths and Turnbull one, in the 
final dividends. Thus Turnbull lost his one- 
third share in the company by increasing the 
expense of the undertaking. He lost land 
principally, for all further grants he obtained 
were still to be divided into fifths for the Com- 
pany. Grenville incidentally advised him to 
look out for Indian lands, that is, land the 
Indians were willing to sell. But Turnbull 
was too busy to do this for several years. 

These were some of the difficulties which 

(1) T. n p. Second Indenture. 

73 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

harassed the administrator at New Smyrna, of 
which the colonists had no idea. They pros- 
pered for the most part in a rough, backwoods 
way, and their hardships were not to be com- 
pared with the sufferings of the earlier colo- 
nists of North America. They had a mild cli- 
mate, soil of wonderful fertility, and a river 
abounding in fish, oysters and turtles. Game 
was also plentiful, and while the Indians 
troubled them, it was as thieves and not as 
murderers. Still, sickness continued to re- 
duce their numbers and the occasional short- 
age of clothes, food or tools caused by Turn- 
bull's recalcitrant London partners caused 
grumblings, which centered on Turnbull him- 
self. He was the only organizer they knew 
anything about, and him they held responsible 
for all things, good or bad, which happened 
to them. 



74 




CHAPTER V 
GOVERNOR GRANT LEAVES FLORIDA 

N the brief accounts of this colony- 
there has been room only for the 
troubles that assailed it on all 
sides, so that its five or six years 
of remarkable progress are passed 
over with little comment. William Bartram, 
in his famous "Travels Through the South- 
ern Provinces," commented on the pretty, 
thriving town on the west bank of the 
North Indian River; Johann Schoepf, a Ger- 
man traveler, also described its plantations ex- 
tending for miles along the banks, the pal- 
metto cottages of the settlers forming tha 
picturesque center of each family's allotted 
acreage. The colony grew the necessities of 



75 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

life first — maize, sugar, cotton and rice, which 
they shipped from their great coquina wharfs. 
They also gathered sea weed and burned it for 
barilla, the ash of which makes sodium carbon- 
ate of an impure sort. Indigo, too, proved 
very successful, and they dug huge vats in the 
fields for boiling it. At the end of the first 
year, Turnbull was able to dispose of five 
thousand bushels of corn, after the supply for 
the colony had been deducted; while in 1772 
the shipment of indigo brought them three 
thousand pounds, ^^^ a sum which, of course, 
meant more then than it does now. Mulberry 
trees for silkworms were planted and grape- 
vines set out. Turnbull also imported cochi- 
neal insects for making scarlet dye. These in- 
sects may still be seen, clinging in white webs 
to the cactus plants in the woods about New 
Smyrna. 

With the dawning era of success for the 



(1) Treasury ^7 p. Statement of London merchant who credited the 
colony with this sum to barter. 

76 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

colony, Turnbull became a leader in the new 
province. He had been made a member of the 
East Florida Council, May 13, 1767, that is, 
as soon as it was definitely known that he 
would live in Florida. Grant had written, Oc- 
tober 20, 1768, that the management of New 
Smyrna consumed so much of Turnbull's time 
that he was unable to act as Clerk of the East 
Florida Council and Secretary of the Province, 
and a Mr. Yeats was temporarily performing 
these duties for him, but they remained his 
honorary posts. ^^^ He was so prominent and 
had made such a good impression on the home 
government that the Earl of Hillsborough be- 
gan to urge his appointment as successor to 
Governor Grant, ^^^ when the latter was 
obliged, on account of failing health, to resign 
his office, in 1770. This resignation was a 
very disastrous event for the future of Florida 
and New Smyrna. Governor Grant, whose 
tireless care for this province had given it the 

(1) CO. 5/544, pp. 95-96. 

(2) CO. 5/545, pp. 60-61. 

77 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

greatest era of prosperity in its long tragic 
history, was not only obliged to resign his 
office, but to leave Florida. By October 19, 
1770, he had received his Majesty's license to 
return to England, but he did not go until the 
last of March, 1771, because he was needed in 
the colony. Two important questions occupied 
him — the selection of his successor, and the 
continuance of the bounty for the New Smyrna 
colony — and in both of them Turnbull was 
concerned. Hillsborough sent him a list of 
candidates for the governorship for him to pass 
upon, and he commented as follows: 

''Mr. Wooldridge would not do at 
all. 

Mr. Jolly — also objected to — 

"Mr. Turnbull, the third your 
Lordship mentions is unexception- 
able, but his constant Residence at 
Smyrna is absolutely and indispen- 
sably necessary. Without his pres- 
ence the business of the Settlement 

78 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

could not go on. He and his Con- 
stituents have too much at Stake to 
neglect the Greek Colony which re- 
quires his attention. He is not to be 
thought of — I only count on him as 
an honorary Councellor, who I do not 
expect to see but once a year and that 
only for a day or two. When he 
came last from Smyrna, it was 
to pass some days at my Plantation 
to see the process of making Indigo, 
in which great Improvements have 
been made this year by my Manufac- 
turies."^^^ 

Thus it is evident that Turnbull had to sac- 
rifice everything to his colony — all govern- 
mental or professional honors which offered a 
wide field with few contestants in Florida. As 
he was one of the three doctors in East 
Florida he came in for that afifection and re- 
spect from the people in the province which 

(1) CO. 5/545, DP. 60-61, Grant to Hillsborough. 

79 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

only a doctor can command. In spite of his 
remoteness from people he gained renown for 
his skill in treating the diseases of Southern 
countries/^^ 

Hillsborough was still reluctant to give up 
his name for the governorship however, and 
Grant wrote again, ''Doctor Turnbull obliged 
to constant Residence at Smyrna, could not 
with propriety think of entering into the Ad- 
ministration, if he was to be continued in it — 
and of course as things are Circumstanced will 
not interfere with Mr. Moultrie." John Moul- 
trie was the man urged for the position by 
Grant, for he was one of the largest planters, 
owned the magnificent estate of Bella Vista, 
seven miles from St. Augustine, and more- 
over, ''If he does not succeed to the Adminis- 
tration in ni}^ absence, we shall certainly lose 
him," concluded Grant. Hillsborough yielded 
to the extent of appointing Moultrie Lieuten- 
ant-Governor, but the opinion of the people in 

(1) Obituary, Charleston City Gazette, Mar. 14, 1792. 

80 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

the province persisted that Turnbull would 
soon be made Governor/^^ 

While Grant prevented the appointment of 
Turnbull as Governor, he sought to make up 
for it by his constant concern for the much 
needed bounty for the next year. ''Transmit- 
ting my Letter to the Board of Treasury, My 
Lord, will not procure the Bounty for the 
Greek Settlement, if my request is not sup- 
ported by your Lordship's approbation of the 
Measure, which I think in the end would be 
attended with much Utility to the Publick — by 
enabling Dr. Turnbull to carry his extensive 
Plans into Execution, the Progress of which 
must be very slow, indeed the Subsistence of 
his People will be precarious if he is not better 
established, before the Royal Bounty is with- 
drawn."^'^ 

It has been shown what splendid support 
Grant had given the Turnbull settlement, and 

(1) Forbes, p. 22. 

(2) CO. 5/545, pp. 81-82. 

81 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

kow necessary the close co-operation of the 
Government had been for the bare existence 
of the colony, and so it can easily be imagined 
that even a luke-warm attitude by the adminis- 
tration would make matters very difficult at 
New Smyrna, while any opposition could 
easily send the costly undertaking into bank- 
ruptcy. By this time, George Grenville was 
dead, Shelburne out of favor and the Home 
Government much too engrossed in events in 
the North to listen to Florida's troubles. 
Early in the year the Boston Massacre had put 
the colonists into disfavor with the Home Gov- 
ernment, and Hillsborough was not inclined 
to continue his benevolence, even toward New 
Smyrna. The large sums they had spent in 
Georgia on colonies had not repaid them for 
their efforts, and besides, the Government had 
never felt obligated to care for TurnbulFs 
colony; they had only promised bounty for 
five hundred colonists; they had afterwards 
g^ranted the two thousand pounds as a special 
relief measure, on condition that the Treasury 

82 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

should not be put to any more expense; and 
now, they flatly refused any more assistance. 
Grant drew Hillsborough's displeasure upon 
himself by his insistence on this bounty. ''I 
have already acquainted you that I had com- 
municated to the Lords of the Treasury the 
Request for a further Allowance for the Sup- 
port of Dr. Turnbull's colony of Greeks.''^^^ 
But he had nothing to add to his former state- 
ment. '*I cannot take upon me to authorize 
any further expense to the public on that Ac- 
count." Henceforth New Smyrna had to shift 
for itself, and TurnbuU to do the best he could 
to recover from the agricultural efforts of his 
colonists the great sums sunk in their under- 
taking. 



(1) CO. 5/545. PD. 289-290. 

83 




CHAPTER VI 

THE NEW GOVERNOR 

IFE at New Smyrna proceeded un- 
eventfully on the surface for a 
time. Mr. Frazier, the Protestant 
Minister at New Smyrna, died in 
1772, and Moultrie wrote the Earl 
of Hillsborough that he had arranged for 
Mr. Forbes, the Minister at St. Augustine, 
to visit New Smyrna at intervals. Mrs. 
Turnbull, with her seven children, and 
her nephew, Andrew, presided in the Turn- 
bull mansion, a large house, built of coquina, 
which stood about four miles back from the 
settlement, and there Mr. Forbes was enter- 
tained, as were the prominent men who 
travelled to see the colony by sailing vessel or 



85 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

horseback. Grant had provided for the build- 
ing of a splendid road to New Smyrna, which 
Moultrie continued. The roads built during 
the English occupation of Florida, are still 
called King's Roads, and show how well they 
were built, by their splendid lasting qualities. 
One ran from St. Augustine to New Smyrna, 
and another to Cowsford, (now Jacksonville) 
and thence to the St. Mary's River. There 
were many wealthy planters from the Caro- 
linas and several noblemen from England who 
were the grantees of large tracts of land, 
among the latter. Lords Hauks, Egmont, Sir 
William Duncan and Messrs. Rolls, Oswald, 
Taylor, Bisset, Potts, Strachey, Tonyn and 
Turnbull.^^^ Large plantations, with beautiful 
homes and groves were scattered over the 
vicinity of St. Augustine and New Smyrna and 
along the St. Johns River. There were now 
few unclaimed lands around New Smyrna. 
Turnbull's neighbors, as shown by the old sur- 

(1) CO. 5/546, pp. 227-228, Tonyn's letter to Germain. 

86 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

vey maps/^^ were Messrs. Wright, Alortz, 
Samuel Campbell, Robert Paris Taylor, John 
Grayhurst, James Moultrie, Robert Oswald, 
Captain Samuel Barrington and Col. Wm. 
Faucet. Small holdings in the names of W. 
Waldron, T. Warron and Angus Clark filled in 
the long line of plantations. Bella Vista, the 
home of Lieutenant Governor Moultrie, was 
particularly famous for its beautiful grounds. 
The social center of all this prosperity was St. 
Augustine, and the little town was very gay 
under English administration. 

As in all frontier posts, the brilliancy of the 
Governor's functions was furnished by the 
military. The officers of Fort George did not 
look favorably upon Moultrie's appointment, 
because they thought him lacking in force and 
decision, and, moreover, they were all staunch 
friends of Turnbull, whom they felt should 
have been made Governor. Chief Justice 
Drayton was another friend who now held aloof 

(1) T. np. 

87 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

from the official Mansion. He belonged to one 
of South Carolina's most prominent families, 
his grandfather and uncle both having been 
Lieutenant Governors there, and though Moul- 
trie also came from South Carolina, the two 
had long been unfriendly. The attitude of the 
military was a source of irritation to Moultrie, 
and Turnbull he regarded with suspicion, but 
Drayton was the point of contact which set off 
the long train of explosive disagreements 
which finally led to New Smyrna's downfall. 
As has been said, Turnbull and Chief Justice 
Drayton were firm friends. They had long 
wished to see the governmental machinery, 
which England had provided for Florida, put 
in operation. The original letters patent of the 
Province had provided for a governor, council 
and elected assembly, but Grant had refused, 
\ throughout his administration, to allow the 
formation of the assembly. Turnbull had 
always disagreed with him on this subject, 
and, when Moultrie succeeded Grant, he and 
Drayton urged the election of an assembly, in 

88 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

the council meetings/^^ All parties in the 
council agreed that this was a good measure, 
since Florida had now enough people to merit 
a representative form of colonial government, 
but demonstrations against England in the 
Northern colonies, especially the clash between 
the inhabitants of Boston and British troops, 
in 1770, known as the Boston Massacre, had 
again alarmed the British ministry, and as 
there were, even in Florida, two parties on the 
question of the extent to which representative 
government should go at this time, much de- 
lay in this direction was experienced by the 
Florida colony. Florida was, in reality, too 
recently settled by the English and too evi- 
dently benefited by British rule to really wish 
for independence, but the King's party, 
with Moultrie at its head, advised elections 
to be held only once in three years, so as to 
control popular opinion, while Turnbull, Dray- 
ton and many other prominent men declared 

(1) Forbes, p. 21. 

89 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

for annual elections. The same question was 
being agitated in England, from 1770-1771, 
where the Prime Minister, Chatham, was en- 
gaged in collecting opinion on the subject. 
Chatham favored annual elections, while 
Burke opposed them as lessening the power 
and prestige of Parliament. '^^ As usual. Turn- 
bull, who kept in touch with English 
politics, brought the latest question from Eng- 
land to Florida. The dispute on this subject 
between Drayton and Moultrie grew very 
heated, and finally extended to other matters, 
such as administrative and judicial business of 
the province, until these two gentlemen, 
''high-minded Carolinians," as Forbes terms 
them, were involved in an irremediable quar- 
rel, Turnbull standing by the Chief Justice, 
both from conviction and friendship. The 
plan for an assembly failed entirely as a result, 
and Drayton resigned his seat in the council. 
Soon afterward, Turnbull resigned also ; but 

(1) Lecky, Vol. Ill, p. 361. 

90 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

whether to show his affiliation with Drayton, 
or because he really was too busy to attend the 
meetings, Moultrie could not decide/^^ No 
further difference developed between TurnbuU 
and Moultrie, however, for some years, prob- 
ably because of the remoteness of New Smyrna 
from the capital. On February 19, 1773, Moul- 
trie reported a visit which he had made to the 
Greek Colony, where he evidently found every- 
thing entirely satisfactory, for he wrote to the 
Earl of Dartmouth: "Since I last had the 
honor of addressing your Lordship, I have 
visited all the Plantations and Settlements on 
the Mosquito River, and I am happy to inform 
you that as well on this visitation as that of 
St. Johns River, I have reason to be pleased, 
and that a Spirit of Improvement, of Industry 
and good humor everywhere prevails among 
the Settlers; of which they feel the good 
effects. Their plantations carry the appear- 
ance of Improvement; they have plenty around 

(1) CO. 5/545, p. 289-290. 

91 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

them and are beginning to recover the ex- 
penses they have been at on their first setting 
down in this New Colony. "^^^ These are 
strange words for an official who, a little later, 
was to charge the orginator of this settlement 
with poor management and starving and mal- 
treating his colonists; certainly he must have 
been blind to have seen on every plantation 
prosperity and good humor where hideous 
cruelty and famine were only a short time 
afterwards represented by him to prevail. In 
that day as well as now, politics played a large 
part in coloring the picture of existing con- 
ditions. Turnbull was well satisfied with the 
way the colony was prospering, for he 
wrote on October 3, 1774, ''I have now laid a 
solid foundation, though it was against the 
opinion of some men, who prefer a flash of 
present gain, tho extorted from the laborer 
and land, to greater advantages in future. "^^^ 
These are the words of a patient as well as a 



(1) CO. 5/S45, p. 289-290. 

(2) I^ans. Ms. Vol. 88, f. 157. 

92 




Van de Sande Studio, New Smyrna, Fla. 

A GLIMPSE OP ONE OP THE TURNBULL CANALS, 
NEW SMYRNA, FLORIDA 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

wise director. He could not suppress this hard 
earned sense of gratification, because his big 
undertaking had brought such slow returns, 
that most of his friends had doubted his ulti- 
mate success and all had urged him to get his 
money back as quickly as possible. 

With success now clearly in view, he made 
some important improvements which seemed 
to him necessary for farming in this climate. 
The parallel between Florida and the southern 
Mediterranean countries which he knew so 
well in former years of travel, was always be- 
fore his mind, and so when a severe drought 
scorched his crops, he decided to institute the 
Egyptian method of irrigating the land,^^^ 
which is by a closely woven net-work of 
canals. ^^^ This was entirely new to American 
planters and they looked on the large scale of 
his irrigation plan with doubtful eyes. It does 
indeed seem strange that in a land so plenti- 

(1) Lans. Mss. Vol. 88, f. 157. 

(2) Enc. Britannica, Vol. IX. p. 27. 

93 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

fully watered, such an extensive irrigation 
scheme as can now be clearly traced in the 
canal system at New Smyrna should have been 
thought necessary, and visitors to the old site 
of New Smyrna have always thought them 
solely a drainage plan. But TurnbuU had seen 
this method work marvels in the Nile coun- 
try, and knew of it as a practical agricultural 
aid, for in 1763, just before he came to Florida, 
the great canal between Cairo and the Red Sea 
had been repaired to supply fresh water to the 
towns on the Suez Canal. At any rate, in this 
letter Turnbull expressly stated that his 
canals were originally for the purpose of irriga- 
tion and not of drainage,^^^ though of course 
they accomplished the double purpose of drain- 
ing the marshes and watering the high land. 
In a recent survey of the vicinity of New 
Smyrna, these canals were pronounced a fine 
engineering feat and designed in the best pos- 
sible way to irrigate and drain that country. 

(1) Ivans. Mss. Vol. 88, f. 157. 

94 




CHAPTER VII 
SPANISH INTRIGUE 

fHERE was no middle class in 
Florida at this time. Slaves were 
brought in shiploads direct from 
Africa, and some of the planters 
along the St. Johns River owned 
thousands of them. Thus the colonists at 
New Smyrna were an isolated class, ignored 
by their wealthy white neighbors as poor 
and small farmers, and looked upon by 
the negroes as "poor white trash," just as 
the few poor people of the Carolinas and 
Virginia were regarded by the slaves, all of 
which was naturally resented by the Minor- 
cans. This was the feeling as well, of the in- 
dentured colonists in Georgia and Virginia, 



95 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

only not so pronounced, because their nation- 
ality was the same as those about them, and in 
a few years they could not be marked out; 
while the Minorcans remained a distinct class 
in Florida for many years. Yet, the Minorcans 
proved themselves vastly superior to the rest of 
Turnbull's colonists at New Smyrna in indus- 
try and honesty, and, while unpopular alike 
with Greeks, Italians and English, they kept to- 
gether, and worked steadily at paying off their 
debt to the Company. The main complaint 
which they had to make against their situa- 
tion, was the number of deaths which had oc- 
curred among them up to 1773, for their num- 
bers dwindled in that time from fourteen 
hundred to six hundred in the nine years that 
they lived at New Smyrna. But aside from 
the natural course of events, many things hap- 
pened to them which molded the opinions of 
succeeding generations. One of these was a 
plot of the Spaniards to gain a foothold in 
Florida once more. 

For many years the political correspondence 

96 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

of English governors in America had been full 
of the activities of France and Spain, who were 
trying to regain their lost provinces there. 
This one in the Minorcan colony was a most 
carefully concealed campaign, and little atten- 
tion has been paid to the discovery of it, or the 
effect of it on these inhabitants of Florida, 
though the entire correspondence of the ambas- 
sadors of the King of Spain and the Catholic 
Bishopsinterested (as naive an acknowledgment 
as was ever recorded) has long been in print in 
this country. These were collected in what are 
known as the A. M. Brooks papers, from the 
records in Seville, Spain; and a translation of 
these documents, published under the title of 
''Unwritten History of St. Augustine,'' by 
Mrs. Avarette. The letters in their proper 
order, tell the story for themselves. 

On October 20, 1769, a Spanish fishing ves- 
sel touched at the Mosquitoes on its way south 
to Havana and, though this was forbidden in 
these times of mutual suspicion and sudden 
warfare, Don Campos, the parish priest of the 

97 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

Minorcans, managed secretly to give a letter 
to the Master of the vessel to be delivered to 
the Bishop of Cuba. The substance of the let- 
ter was that upon sailing from Minorca, Don 
Campos had received from the Pope authority 
as parish priest for three years at New Smyrna, 
and now that this term had expired, he wished 
an extension of this time for himself and 
Father Casanovas, the monk who had ac- 
companied him. He also asked for Holy oil 
and two assistant priests for conducting divine 
service. The secrecy and apparent difficulty 
with which the letter was sent created a real 
stir in Catholic circles. According to subse- 
quent letters, it seems that Don Campos was 
only a good, laborious priest who had been 
with the Minorcans three years before they 
sailed from home, and his secret method of 
communicating with his Bishop was caused by 
previous experience with the policy of the 
English Government in Minorca and Florida, 
of preventing correspondence between Catho- 
lic priests. But the Bishop of Cuba proceeded 

98 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

very cautiously to make sure that the two 
priests and the Minorcans were indeed Catho- 
lics, and then referred the matter to the King 
of Spain, so that the latter might insist upon 
England fulfilling her treaty promise to allow 
freedom of religion to her Catholic subjects, 
and also that Don Campos and the Minorcans 
might be inspired by gratitude to his Catholic 
Majesty for the privileges obtained for them, 
and be willing agents for the Spanish Govern- 
ment. 

A secret correspondence with Havana 
continued for five years when, in 1774, a vessel 
which had lurked suspiciously near the colony, 
was seized by Turnbull's order, and evidence of 
these activities found in letters in charge of the 
master of the vessel. Great was the agitation 
of all the Minorcans! Terror seized those 
directly implicated, and grief the rest, because 
now the comforting assurances of their nearest 
Bishop were interrupted. A priest and several 
Minorcans were convicted at St. Augustine of 
high treason and executed, and strange fishing 

99 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

vessels were henceforth forbidden to touch at 
New Smyrna. These events definitely antago- 
nized the Minorcans, and they continued to 
hear indirectly from Cuba through the few 
Spaniards who still remained in Florida, and 
who had been opposed to English rule from 
the first, on account of the harsh policy of 
Major Ogilvie, the military commander of 
Florida before Grant's arrival. Thus the best 
element of New Smyrna endured the hardships 
and suffered the restrictions of living in a new 
land under foreign masters, but joined at 
once the political plots of a tireless enemy of 
England. It is not, therefore, surprising, but 
nevertheless amusing, to note that the sym- 
pathetic and excitable Romans reported the 
seizure of the fishing vessel as 'a diabolical 
assault on the kindly tars for giving food to 
the starving Minorcans!' 

A very decided change came over the afTairs 
of administration in Florida after Moultrie's 
appointment as Lieutenant-Governor. In the 
smallest matters he showed indecision, ap- 

100 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

pealed for support of his opinions to those 
about him and bothered Hillsborough with 
plaintive letters on the disobedience of his sub- 
ordinates. Governor Grant had not been ab- 
sent a month from Florida before Moultrie had 
to deal writh Indian troubles at Nev^ Smyrna 
and his sense of insufficiency became evident. 

Seventy-tw^o Indians, led by Cowkeeper, a 
Creek Chief, came to New Smyrna the first 
part of May, under the impression that it was 
a settlement of Spaniards and Yemassee 
Indians, both bitter enemies of the Creeks. 
They were very sulky and, on meeting a boat's 
crew at TurnbulFs cow pens, beat the Minor- 
cans severely and terrified the whole com- 
munity. Turnbull treated the Indians diplo- 
matically, invited the head man to his house 
and gave them plenty to eat and more to 
drink, so that they were restored to a good 
humor, when he explained to them the nation- 
ality of the Minorcans, as Grant had done be- 
fore, and told them that the new Governor at 
St. Augustine would be glad to see them. The 

101 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

Indians departed peaceably, though TurnbuU 
took the precaution to send Langley Bryant 
and Black Sandy, a slave, to watch them until 
they were safely on their way/^^ Turnbull 
wrote to Moultrie, informing him that the 
Indian's attack had been a false alarm, and 
Moultrie reported it thus to Hillsborough. But 
ten days later Turnbull came to St. Augustine 
to confer with Moultrie, saying that he was 
still uneasy about the Indians and had written 
to his partner. Sir William Duncan, asking him 
to tell Hillsborough so. Moultrie was much 
flurried and provoked with Turnbull for not 
reporting this changed opinion to him before 
he wrote to England, and persisted in his be- 
lief that there was no danger. Elaborate ex- 
planations were hurried to England by Moul- 
trie with a copy of TurnbulFs first letter, and a 
reiteration by the Lieutenant Governor that 
there was not the slightest cause for alarm/^^ 
Nevertheless, Moultrie called the Council to- 

(1) CO. 5/552, pp. 28-29. 

(2) CO. 5/552, p. 91-94. 

102 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

gether, and told them that since the Minorcans 
were disturbed, reinforcements might be sent 
to New Smyrna. Moultrie said the Council 
agreed with him that there was no danger, but 
that he would send a detachment of troops to 
the colony. It is perfectly apparent now, either 
there was danger and troops should have gone, 
or there was not and no troops should have 
gone! Still, Moultrie wrote to Major MacKen- 
zie, commanding His Majesty's forces in East 
Florida, requesting him to send twelve men to 
reinforce the eight soldiers of the 31st Regi- 
ment permanently stationed there. MacKen- 
zie's opinion of the Lieutenant Governor may 
be seen from the contents of his letter: 

"St, Augustine, 
June 6th, 1771. 
Sir: 

Dr. Turnbull is a Gentleman that I have the great- 
est regard and esteem for, and wou'd gladly wish it 
was in my power to quiet the Apprehensions and fears 
of his new Settlers by sending a reinforcement of 
Soldiers to the Musqueto's, as you require with the 
advice of his Majesty's Council. The detachment of 
the 31st Reg't already there is very sufficient in my 
humble opinion, to answer the purpose that they were 
sent for, that is, to prevent Mutiny and insurrection 

103 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

among the Greek Settlers on that Plantation. If any- 
other Accident shou'd happen to make it seriously 
necessary to have more Troops sent to the Musquetos, 
you'll be so good as to make application to General 
Gage, the Commander in Chief, who no doubt will give 
me orders relative thereto. 

I have the pleasure to be, etc. 

(signed) Alec. MacKenzie."<i) 

This was most cavalier treatment — it would 
have taken three months to get orders from 
General Gage for those twelve men! There 
ensued more complaints from Moultrie to 
Hillsborough, and the latter said that Moultrie 
was within his rights to ask for the soldiers/^^ 
The treatment which Moultrie received is all 
the more proof of his weakness when it is 
known that he was acting permissibly. First, 
he was annoyed that any report, however 
small, to the home government of the affair, 
should differ from his; then he gave his opinion 
that there was no danger, yet ordered the sol- 
diers sent to New Smyrna, and was snubbed 
by the officer in command at St. Augustine. 



(1) CO. 5/552, p. 105. 

(2) CO. 5/552, p. 123, 



104 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

This is but one instance of Moultrie's insecure 
position while in authority. He had no friends 
among the military men of St. Augustine, and 
he seemed to lack the power to make men obey 
him. 

In the meantime, affairs in the Northern 
colonies had taken on such a serious aspect 
that the British Government wished for a 
stronger hand in Florida to steer her clear of 
the spreading discontent, for Florida people 
were watching the course of events with eager 
interest. 

The Gaspin, a British revenue vessel, was 
blown up in Narragansett Bay, in 1772, and 
the tea ships sailed in 1773 for Charleston, 
Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. The 
colonial world held its breath in dread and ex- 
pectation of their arrival, and a responsive 
thrill of enthusiasm ran down the coast when 
Boston dumped the tea into her harbor on 
December 16th. Now England became finally 
aware of the unanimous and determined atti- 

105 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

tude of her colonies, and, with kindred stub- 
bornness, set herself to subdue them to her will. 

''It was the changes, vacillation, divisions, 
and weaknesses of the English ministers, the 
utter disintegration of English parties, the 
rapid alterations of severity and indulgence, 
which had rendered all resistance to authority 
popular," writes one of the leading English 
historians of this day/^^ 

A campaign of severity was in vogue from 
now on, and Florida had her share of it. As 
Turnbull, Drayton and their friends were in 
official disfavor since the assembly dispute, it 
was decided to send a man direct from Eng- 
land, with orders to proceed summarily to 
stamp out the first sign of revolutionary 
opinions. Colonel Tonyn, a protege of Lord 
Marchmont, arrived as Governor, in March, 
1774; and his first act was to issue a proclama- 
tion inviting loyal Americans to come to 

(1) Ivecky, v. Ill, p. 403. 

106 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

Florida and quit the provinces then in revolt. 
Florida was, by this time, the only loyal 
province south of Canada, and many Tories 
responded to his invitation, a circumstance 
v^^hich at once strengthened Tonyn's influence 
in England. 



107 



CHAPTER VIII 

TURNBULL AND DRAYTON VS. TONYN AND 

MOULTRIE 

HE outburst of anger which met 
the Boston Port Bill, and the call- 
ing of the First Colonial Congress 
at Philadelphia show what strides 
the Revolution had made by this 
time. Florida and Georgia were the only 
colonies which were not represented at the 
Congress, and England took drastic meas- 
ures to cut them off from the contagion. 
Tonyn's orders were to do something and do 
it quickly. It was up to him to prove to the 
anxious ministers that he could balk the whirl- 
wind, and he proceeded to issue more procla- 
mations of violent condemnation against the 




109 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

Revolutionists. In reality, Florida was little 
in sympathy with the movement because her 
settlers were still few and far between. There- 
fore, Drayton and Turnbull, with their friends, 
were inclined to smile at the impetuosity of the 
new Governor, — the Chief Justice, in par- 
ticular, incurring the displeasure of the peppery 
colonel by his "caviling"^^^ as Tonyn expressed 
it. 

Moultrie retained his post as Lieutenant 
Governor, and attached himself to his new 
superior with ardor. He was still smarting 
under the slights which the officers of the gar- 
rison had dealt him, and he bore no love 
for Drayton and Turnbull for their part in the 
elections dispute, so it was natural for him to 
enlist the sympathies of Tonyn against them. 

In November a plan of Drayton's for obtain- 
ing lands from the Indians came to light, and 
appeared to Tonyn a good opportunity to 

(1) CO. 5/555, pp. 53-60. 

110 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLOTQBA 

discipline his opponent. Jonathan Bryan, a 
friend of Drayton's uncle, who was then Gover- 
nor of South Carolina, had offered him, two 
years before, a share in Apalachee Old Fields, 
a large tract of land on the St. Johns River 
which the Indians, he said, were willing to 
sell, because they were about to move back to 
the body of their nation. When Drayton had 
suggested going to Governor Grant with this 
measure, Bryan replied that the Governor was 
a hard bargainer in money matters and he pre- 
ferred to have some one else use his influence 
directly in England to have the treaty ratified. 
Drayton told him that he had no influence 
there, but his friend, Dr. Turnbull, had, and 
that as that gentleman was about to sail for 
England, if Bryan wished to include the Doc- 
tor in the plan, he would ask his assistance. 
Bryan consented, and set about his dealings 
with the Indians, while Turnbull consulted his 
lawyers in England, who told him the affair 
was quite lawful. ^^^ A short time before his 

(1) CO. 5/555, pp. 277-281. 

Ill 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

death, George Grenville had also told Turn- 
bull to look up such a proposition and Turn- 
bull, with his characteristic enthusiasm, urged 
this one along. Bryan secured the lease of the 
land for ninety-nine years, and left it with the 
Indians to show all their people; but, in 1774, 
at a meeting with the Governor of Georgia, this 
pending treaty was discovered and, as it was 
unknown to the authorities, Bryan, the only 
person named in the transaction, stood in ill 
favor with them.^^^ Turnbull and Drayton had 
not yet seen the terms of the treaty or con- 
sented to be his partners — they had simply 
been waiting to see what he had to offer them; 
but when Tonyn started to prosecute Bryan 
for trying to make such a treaty, Drayton took 
up his cause. He urged that a private company 
had secured lands on the Ohio River in a simi- 
lar fashion and been authorized to occupy them 
by the Government, and that since Mr. Gren- 
ville, while Prime Minister, had advised such 

(1) CO. 5/555, p. 281. 

112 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

a course, he thought it quite permissible. 
There was evidently a conflict of legal opinion 
on this score, however, for a letter of Tonyn's 
to the Earl of Dartmouth refers to the latter's 
disapproval of such treaties/^^ That Drayton 
planned, nevertheless, to oppose Tonyn, is 
shown by the same letter. "My Lord, I am 
perfectly informed that Dr. Turnbull, Mr. Pen- 
man, with a few more of the Chief Justice's 
Creatures, are intriguing and endeavoring to 
raise a Faction from which I expect some hos- 
tile proceedings in our next General Sessions 
in December."^^^ In one year, relations be- 
tween Tonyn and Drayton had certainly be- 
come anything but cordial; and the General 
Sessions in December justified the Governor's 
expectations. Turnbull said that the Gover- 
nor insulted the Grand Jury,^^^ of which he 
was a member. That body drew up an address 
to the Honorable William Drayton, giving 

(1) CO. 5/556, pp. 117-118. 

(2) CO. 5/556, pp. 117-118. 

(3) CO. 5/546, pp. 53-54. 

113 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

their opinion that he was entirely blameless so 
far as he had been concerned in the Bryan 
affairJ^^ In addition, Drayton wrote a com- 
plete and dignified account of his letters and 
conversations with Bryan and presented it to 
the Governor. In it he said that the only rea- 
son Bryan had approached him was because he 
wished to get governmental sanction for his 
treaty and, therefore, he did not see how the 
matter could be viewed as an attempt to evade 
the law/^^ He concluded, ''From the character 
which, I flatter myself, I have established with 
all that know me, for Honour and Veracity; I 
hope that this Representation of my every 
Concern in this affair, which I avow before 
God to be strictly true, will set my Conduct in 
a favorable Light, and that if it does not totally 
exculpate me from the imputation of having 
committed an Error, it will at least relieve me 
from the Censure of guilt/'^^^ Tonyn continued 

(1) CO. 5/556, p. 55. 

(2) CO. 5/555. pp. 277-281. 

(3) CO. 5/555, pp. 277-281. 

114 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

to write to Germain, successor to Hillsborough 
as Secretary of the colonies, that ''Dr. Turnbull 
and Mr. Drayton have associated with Bryan 
in his scandalous undertaking. That, my Lord, 
the blame must fall with an oppressive weight 
upon the Chief Justice"^^^ — these extracts of 
letters have been given to show the impersonal 
manner of Drayton in contrast to the ever 
violent and vindictive language of Tonyn. 
The latter, throughout this correspondence, 
distinguished himself in the number of personal 
libels he collected to hurl at his opponents. 

The early part of 1776, Tonyn suspended 
Drayton from his office for his championing 
of Bryan and wrote to England for sanction 
of his act.^^' St. Augustine and the planta- 
tions hummed with excitement and divided 
opinion. Drayton came of a prominent South 
Carolina family, and so the interest was by no 



(1) CO. 5/555, pp. 53-60. 

(2) CO. 5/556, pp. 501-502. 

115 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

means local. Tonyn warned Turnbull that his 
name had been mentioned in the proceedings, 
though he had not charged him before the 
Board/^^ but this did not stop the angry Scotch- 
man in defense of his friend. He felt they were 
in the right and he was sure of support from 
his friends in the home Government, so he 
proceeded with a strong hand. Tonyn had 
said that he did not believe there were six loyal 
subjects in the province,^^^ and to disprove his 
assertion, Drayton's friends called a meeting 
of the citizens of Florida, to prepare an address 
of loyalty to the King, on February 27th, at 
Wood's Tavern. From the list of distinguished 
names signed to this paper, there must have 
been a representative gathering, though Tonyn 
tried to discredit it by saying that many men of 
no property signed their names. Turnbull par- 
ried by saying that that may have been so, 
''For it is not always known whether men have 

(1) CO. 5/155 British Transcript in Washington L,ibrary, Box 241. 

116 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

Property or not, but Governor Tonyn does not 
mention what is well known, which is, that 
many of them singly have more property in 
the Province than the Governor and Council 
all put together, the Lieut. Governor ex- 
cepted. "^^^ He ended this question sensibly by 
stating what was true in comparison with the 
other colonies — ''I wish, however, for the 
Governor's Honor and Credit of the People 
that he had not said anything about Property, 
for that of his Province is very little indeed. "^^^ 
At any rate, there are seventy-eight names 
signed to this interesting Address, some of 
them still well known in Florida, though the 
majority of these people left when England 
gave Florida back to Spain. At the bottom, 
Turnbull signed his name again "on behalf of 
upwards of two hundred families of Greeks 



(1) CO. S/S46, pp. 113-115 Defense of Turnbull before lyords of Trade 

to Charges by Tonyn. 

(2) CO. 5/546, pp. 113-115 Defense of Turnbull before Lords of Trade 

to Charges by Tonyn. 

117 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

and other Foreigners at the Smyrna settle- 
ment."^'^ 

Turnbull presided at this meeting and was 
appointed to carry the address to England, 
while a committee was selected to present a 
copy of it to the Governor. At the conclusion 



(1) CO. 5/556, pp. 113-115. The Humble Address of the Inhabitants of 
East Florida. The full list included: 



A. Turnbull 
Spencer Man 
Rob. Bisset 
James Penman 
Charles Delap 
Will Short 
Tho. Mowbray 
Tho. Clark 
Henry Hares 
Ralph Laidler 
George Simpson 
Abraham Cooke 
G. Mid Powell 
John Ross 
Jonah Mott 
James Tims 
John Newcomb 
William Mills 
Joseph Stout 
James Brown 
Fredk. Rolfes 
John Tennant 
George Grassell 
Wm. Johnson 
James Henderson 
And. Turnbull, Junr. 



Peter Bachop 
Joseph Michael 
Jacobus Kip 
Abr. Marshall 
Wm. Taylor 
W. Woodvill 
Alexr. Daniel 
Tho. Smart 
Donald McLean 
George lyowthrup 
George Rolphes 
John Doran 
Lewis Cuenoud 
James Isaac Pouly 
Samuel Reworth 
Thomas Johnson 
John Bunkley 
Rob Bunkley 
Thomas Tustin 
Thomas Williamson 
Alex. Bisset 
Henry Sowerby 
Arch Lundle 
Rich Sill 
Stephen White 
William Reddy 



Francis Philip Fatio 

James Smith 

Lewis Fatio 

Rob. Stafford 

Joseph Broomhead 

Enoch Barton 

Tho. Higgins 

John Cookson 

James Moncrief 

Isaac Rwaz 

Wm. Wilson 

Patrick Robinson 

Frs. Phi. Fatio, Junr, 

Wm. Drayton 

James Waights 

James Barns 

William Sherwood 

Alex Grant 

Charles Bernard 

Wm. Watson 

John Mason 

John Speir 

A. Turnbull for upwards 
of two hundred Fami- 
lies of Greeks and 
other Foreigners on 
the Smyrna Settle- 
ment. 



118 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

of business, most of the men lingered to dis- 
cuss the topic of the day — Drayton's suspen- 
sion — and as Turnbull had a copy of the de- 
fense of Drayton, he read it aloud, ending by 
asking those around him if they did not think 
Drayton had justified himself/^^ Another ad- 
dress of praise of Drayton's judicial character 
was the result of this talk,^^^ and trouble grew 
apace from all these occurrences. 

The next day the committee, consisting of 
Turnbull, Captain Bisset and other prominent 
men,^^^ waited upon the Governor to present 
him with a copy of the address. ''I, expecting 
that they were to deliver to me the original," 
wrote the pompous Tonyn to Germain, ''fixed 
ten a Clock the next day for receiving it. Mr. 
Turnbull and six other gentlemen waited upon 
me and delivered the enclosed copy No. 1. 
Upon reading it I observed that I was well 

(1) CO. 5/556, p. 463, Tonyn to Turnbull. 

(2) CO. 5/556, pp. 73-77. 

(3) CO. 5/556, pp. 505-512. Extracts from Minutes of Kast Florida 

Council. 

119 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

pleased to see such a loyal Address; but, I was 
surprised that there were no names subscribed. 
Mr. Turnbull told me, he had the original to 
take home to England with him. Upon which I 
said "Gentlemen, I cannot conceive, that, an ad- 
dress presented, by a private person, can be so 
graciously received, as it would be through His 
Majesty's Representative; that I could not 
countenance such methods of driving things 
out of their proper Channel; that I considered 
this manner of coming to me, with a copy, 
without names, as an insult to me, and His 
Majesty's Government of this Province and, 
that when I received an insult, I always knew 
how to treat it. Having said this, I immedi- 
ately retired into another Room."^^^ With his 
letter, Tonyn sent another address to the King, 
with the names of all his friends on it! On 
these men and their negroes, he said, the 
Government could depend for assistance in 
case of invasion. "Your Lordship will per- 

(1) CO. 5/556, pp. 73-77. 

120 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

ceive the contrast between these (latter) sub- 
jects and two hundred Roman Catholics fit to 
bear arms at the Smyrna settlement, where 
there has been for some time a detachment 
from this Garrison to keep them in order, in 
case of an insurrection, and for whom Mr. 
Turnbull in his letter to me No 5, wants fur- 
ther protection." This referred to the nine 
soldiers who had remained stationed at New 
Smyrna since the uprising of 1768,^^^ by request 
from the neighboring planters. ^^^ Tonyn's 
opinion of the Minorcans was at a very low 
ebb at this time because they had refused to 
join the militia^^^ which was then being raised 
to protect Florida from an invasion by the 
Revolutionists. The conclusion of this letter 
is an open plea for Germain's favor. "I would 
not trouble your Lordship with the minute 

(1) CO. 5/556, pp. 97-99. Turnbull's application for reinforcements 

against the Indians. 

(2) CO. 5/544, Grant said there should be a hundred soldiers there to 

protect the settlers from the Indians, and the planters from the 
new colonists. 

(3) CO. 5/155 British Transcript in Washington L,ibrary, Box 241. 

121 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

details of these matters, inconsiderable in 
themselves, were it not that your Lordship's 
humanity may lead you, my Lord, to give Mr, 
Drayton a hearing and perhaps Mr. Turnbull, 
of whose conduct I shall take notice, and that 
your Lordship may be guarded against mis- 
representation, and falsehood and may see the 
necessity, of the civil officers, that are within 
this Province, giving their assistance to Gov- 
ernment, instead of flying in the Face of it, 
which has been the case, upon every possible 
opportunity, by a faction here." 

On March 4th, Tonyn wrote to Turnbull, 
and peremptorily demanded if it were true 
that he had discussed Mr. Drayton's case at 
the meeting in Wood's Tavern. ^^^ Turnbull 
answered sarcastically, ''I am desired to give 
Information against myself, on a subject, 
which your Excellency seems to think culpable. 
If I had done anything which had a tendency 
that way, it would not be prudent to inform 

(1) CO. 5/556, p. 463, Tonyn to Turnbull. 

122 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

against myself, nor could it be required of me. 
But as I am conscious of m}^ own innocence, 
and that what I did, on the occasion you men- 
tion, was to assist a most worthy and respect- 
able man under disagreeable Circumstances, I 
will relate to you. Sir, how that affair hap- 
pened/'^^^ His account is the same as has been 
given, but his letter is a stinging arraignment 
of Tonyn. "Why am I not permitted to give 
my opinion in Conversation, when that opinion 
is founded on Conviction, and from a most inti- 
mate knowledge of Mr. Drayton in his publick 
and private capacities? 

"If it is to gratify the Resentment which 
your Excellency threatened me and others 
with on the 28th of last Month, ^^^ when at your 
own request, a committee of seven, myself in- 
cluded, of the oldest and principal inhabitants 
of this province, waited on your Excellency in 
a most respectful manner to present to you a 



(1) CO. 5/556, pp. 89-93. 

(2) When the address was presented to Tonyn. 

123 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

Copy" etc. — "Reflect, Sir, that, after that pub- 
lick threat, all will appear to spring from that 
motive — I beg leave also to remind your 
Excellency that I settled here under the 
Auspices of His present Majesty. I was even 
made happy by his Most Gracious wishes for 
my success in an undertaking never before at- 
tempted on so large a Scale by any private 
person, and that His Majesty was pleased to 
order His Governor of this Province to assist 
me as much as was in his power." Turnbull 
particularly drew blood by his slur on Tonyn's 
friends who were, indeed, not the most aristo- 
cratic in the community. ''Weigh me, Sir, in 
the Balance against the Men who are your In- 
formers, and I dare say. Sir, that you will find 
them men of little Property, Credit or Conse- 
quence, I cannot have any Enemies but such 
as come under this description — The Inten- 
tions of such Men are easily discoverable, Sir, 
by that Just and never failing Criterion, that 
all good Men endeavor to conciliate diflferen- 
ces, but bad Men busy themselves in making 

124 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

and widening Breaches in Friendship and 
Mutual Confidence."^'^ 

This letter must have given the writer some 
artistic satisfaction for its eloquence, but it 
was, certainly, not a soothing message to send 
an official who was touchy about his dignity. 

The reply is a perfect blast of fury. "It is 
not my Intention, and it is contrary to my very 
nature to encroach upon the Rights of private 
Judgment, but I will not dispense with the 
power of calling the Servants of the Crown 
within this Province to answer and account 
for their Conduct when I think them blamable. 
* * * I plainly and fairly acquaint you, that 
I think your Behavior upon that occasion is of 
such a Nature that I intend to lay such Cir- 
cumstances of it, as are come to my knowledge 
before the Council. I am not to be intimi- 
dated from doing what I conceive to be my 
duty from an apprehension that narrow- 
minded People may suspect me of Mean Re- 

(1) CO. 5/556, pp. 89-93, Turnbull to Tonyn. 

125 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

sentments. — Pray, Sir, what threats do you 
pretend I 'made use of? I mentioned no 
Threats, I meant none — I should be sorry to 
be the means of any Person's ruin. I heartily 
sympathize with all, in disagreeable Circum- 
stances, even when their misfortunes are 
premeditatedly of their own acquiring, not- 
withstanding frequent Reproofs and Warnings 
of their doing wrong indeed with no Effect. 
But however disagreeable it may be to me I 
must do my Duty.'' The constant source of 
annoyance to the ceremony-loving Tonyn 
comes up again in this letter. ''If to this 
Moment I have not shown you marks of Civil- 
ity and Attention it is owing to yourself, as 
you have not done me the favour of calling 
upon me, on the several Times you have been 
latel}^ in Town. — I cannot omit to thank you 
for the favorable opinion you entertain of my 
Judgment in the choice I make of my Acquaint- 
ance when I am well convinced that they are 

126 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

of the Stamp yon insinuate them to be of, I 
shall most certainly look out for others. "^^* 



(1) CO. 5/556 pp. 97-100 Tonyn to Turnbull. Punctuation of the origi- 
nal letter is copied. 



127 




CHAPTER IX 
THE FLIGHT TO ENGLAND 

'ILLIAM DRAYTON, since his 
suspension, had been visiting 
Turnbull, and Tonyn's reply must 
have caused the friends much 
amusement, since he had not failed 
to storm at every sarcastic bit in TurnbulFs 
letter; but it struck a note of warning, 
for Turnbull was to be suspended, and 
they had no room to doubt that Tonyn's re- 
sentment would not stop there. Through 
many channels, other warnings came to New 
Smyrna, and made them realize that they must 
now take drastic measures to protect them- 
selves from Tonyn's anger. Turnbull said he 
had ''received an Information from undoubted 

129 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

Authority, that Governor Tonyn intended to 
throw me, with some others, into the Dungeon 
in the Fort, where we must have perished in 
the hot Season from the Damp, and a total 
Exclusion of all circulating Air. — I was in- 
formed of this Intention by a gentleman of 
Truth and Honour, to whom the Governor had 
trusted this Secret. I have leave to mention 
his name if necessary; for he acquainted us all 
with Govr. Tonyn's Designs against us. I was 
also advised of it in a letter sent by Express to 
rne. This letter is now in my Custody. This 
Imprisonment was intended because we had 
said that, in our opinion, Govr. Tonyn had sus- 
pended Mr. Drayton to gratify a private Re- 
sentment, and not for anything which he had 
done to deserve such a Punishment. "^^^ Turn- 
bull, accordingly, planned to go to England 
with Drayton, secretly, before Tonyn could 
seize them. 

In November, Tonyn had told Turnbull that 

(1) CO. 5/546, pp. 77-85. Turnbull before the Lords of Trade. 

130 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

he had no objection to the latter's going to 
England, but, considering the letter in which 
he had said TurnbuU was to be charged be- 
fore the Council, as a notice that he was not 
to leave Florida, Tonyn did not think he would 
dare to sail without written permission, 
especially since once in a tiff over writing the 
leave, TurnbuU had said that during Grant's 
time such a formality had not been necessary, 
but that now he wished to comply with every 
regulation. Another aggravation — but the 
Governor felt secure in having TurnbuU as 
long as he withheld the leave. 

No hint of his preparations for departure 
reached St. Augustine, until the morning of 
the day a vessel was to sail, when Tonyn 
heard a rumor of his intentions. He called the 
Captain of the vessel and asked him if this 
were true and the Captain replied ''No, not 
that he knew of, that he (TurnbuU) had first 
taken passage, and then given it up."^^^ Find- 

(1) CO. 5/556, pp. 505-512. Extracts from Minutes of Council. 

131 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

ing, however, that Turnbull was in town, the 
Governor sent the Deputy Clerk of the Council 
to him to say that if he intended to leave for 
England that day, the Governor wished to see 
him. Turnbull said he had been warned that 
this man was a spy who was to be appointed 
Secretary in his place, so he did not answer him 
pleasantly/^^ He sent word to Tonyn ''That 
he was going to see his Son on Board, and 
that Mr. Penman was going with him."^^^ Mr. 
Penman was later to suffer also for his part 
in this affair, but, in the meantime, Turnbull 
and Drayton escaped to England. 

On March 30th, Tonyn held a council meet- 
ing, submitted an account of all the facts here 
mentioned and suspended Turnbull as Secre- 
tary of the Province and Clerk of the Council. 
The accusations against him were, First, pub- 
licly discussing Drayton's case. Second, Pre- 
senting only a copy of the Address to the 

(1) CO. 5/546, pp. 77-85. 

(2) CO. 5/556, pp. 505-512. 

132 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

Governor, and Third, Leaving the Province 
w^ithout notice or permission. Two of the 
members of the Council who had voted against 
Drayton's suspension were absent from this 
meeting and Turnbull said they were probably 
not notified/^^ At any rate, he had one friend 
there who insisted at every accusation on a 
minority report of his objections to this sus- 
pension. This reads ''Mr. Jollie observed that 
he had been acquainted with Mr. Turnbull for 
several years, and that he could not believe that 
Mr. Turnbull could intend to bring the Gov- 
ernment of this Province into contempt, and 
that he did not think his conduct on that oc- 
casion had that tendency."^^^ "Mr. Jollie is 
of opinion that Mr. Turnbull ought not to be 
suspended at this time.''^^^ Mr. Jollie resigned 
his seat in the Council and from the Bench as 
Assistant Judge, as a result of these proceed- 



(1) CO. 5/546, pp. 77-85. 

(2) CO. 5/556, pp. 505-512, Extracts from Minutes of Council. This Mr. 

Jollie, it will be recalled, had been prominent enough to be proposed 
for Grant's successors as Governor by L,ord Hillsborough. 

(3) CO. 5/556, Extracts from Minutes of Council. 

133 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

ings/^^ This was certainly the action of a 
brave man, as well as a loyal friend, for one 
does not find people who are participants in an 
unrighteous cause sacrificing themselves so 
promptly. Undoubtedly, Mr. Jollie had reason 
to believe that Governor Tonyn's actions would 
not be upheld in England. This account of 
Turnbull's alleged misdeeds is especially inter- 
esting, because no word of censure with regard 
to the management of New Smyrna is to be 
found there, nor any reference to the Minor- 
cans. Tonyn had every opportunity to know of 
conditions at New Smyrna, for Mr. Forbes 
was still the visiting Minister there, and his 
own friend and adherent ; and, if there had been 
anything which they, at that time, thought 
wrong, there is no doubt but that they would 
have put it down to Turnbull's discredit. 

Tonyn was very anxious about what Turn- 
bull and Drayton might say of him in Eng- 
land, however. He began to write Germain 

(1) CO. 5/546, pp. 78-85, Turnbull before Lords of Trade. 

134 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

that this quarrel was not of his making, but 
had its roots far back in Grant's administra- 
tion. ''Sensible of the mean artifices and mis- 
representations that these two gentlemen have 
made use of, to operate upon the minds of his 
Majesty's good Subjects of this Province; and 
that your Lordship may not imagine that this 
dissatisfaction has arisen, since I have had the 
honour of being Governor of this Province, or 
that it is well grounded, give me leave, My 
Lord, to mention the source from whence it 
has sprung. 

''About the time Governor Grant left this 
Province, he recommended Mr. Moultrie to be 
appointed Lieutenant Governor. 

"Mr. Turnbull expected his Friends in Eng- 
land would have procured him that honour. 

"An enmity had subsisted between Mr. 
Moultrie and Mr. Drayton, Mr. Moultrie's 
promotion, and a considerable addition of 
large fortune, by the death of his father-in-law, 

135 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

has added envy to dislike. Mr. TurnbulFs dis- 
appointment, and the malignant envy of the 
other, entirely corresponded, and lead them to 
resign their Seats in Council, and to behold 
every measure of internal Government in an 
unfavorable light." Then comes his greatest 
effort to discredit his enemies. "But not satis- 
fied with that, they carried their sympathy so 
far as to become Patriots for the cause of 
America. It is notorious that these Servants 
of the Crown have reprobated the measures 
carried on by His Majesty's Ministers; and, 
that Mr. Turnbull in particular declared in 
Company, in a debate with Lt. Governor Moul- 
trie, that America was in the right, the King's 
Ministers in the wrong, that Lord North would 
answer for the measures with his Head."^" 
Such heresies must have made the Secretary 
for the Colonies smile when he remembered 
the thundering speeches of Burke in the sacred 
precincts of Parliament itself against these 

(1) CO. 5/556, pp. 495-498. 

136 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

very measures of Government. Many loyal 
British subjects said openly that America was 
right, but did not believe she was wise to sepa- 
rate herself from England. But Tonyn tried 
to arouse Germain. "If such freedom was 
taken in Publick Company, where the King's 
Friends and Servants were present, what must 
have passed in their private Cabals? It is well 
known that the rebels have had exceedingly 
good information concerning the state of this 
Garrison, and of everything carrying on 
here."^^^ Turnbull would have looked with 
amused disdain on the outburst in the final 
paragraph of this letter. "There are many 
facts which I might mention to your Lord- 
ship, that strongly mark their characters; but, 
none more than, the precipitate, mean secret 
manner that Mr. Turnbull took in leaving this 
Province.'' 

On May 10th, Turnbull presented his loyal 
Address to Germain in London, to be delivered 

(1) CO. 5/556, pp. 495-498. 

137 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

to the King, and asked an audience of the Sec- 
retary for the Colonies. The first result of 
this interview, comes out in a letter of stern re- 
proof, from Germain to Governor Tonyn, on 
his treatment of William Drayton. ''In times 
like the present it were much to be wished that 
all His Majesty's faithful subjects would forego 
every smaller consideration, and apply their 
Attention to the public Safety and Advant- 
age — I will hope that your own good sense will 
lead you to set the Example of burying in 
oblivion every little Injury or Subject of Com- 
plaint, which appears to have been more the 
effect of Pique, or hasty Resentment, than any 
malevolence to your person, or settled purpose 
to disturb your Administration. 

''In this light the Lords of Trade have con- 
sidered Mr. Drayton's conduct toward you, 
and their Lordships have, upon a full Examina- 
tion of the Charges brought against him, re- 
ported to His Majesty their opinion that his 
Suspension from his office of Chief Justice 
ought to be removed — and I am commanded 

138 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

by the King to signify to you His Majesty's 
Pleasure that you do accordingly remove his 
Suspension and reinstate him in his office of 
Chief Justice, and that no part of his Salary be 
withheld on account of his suspension. "^^' A 
curtain must be drawn on the mortification 
and rage of the Governor who considered his 
authority so precious that he was even insulted 
to have an address to the King through any 
source than his own reports. But another 
part of Germain's letter gave him the cue to 
his revenge. It read: ''The very great advan- 
tage which the public must derive from the 
valuable Settlement at Smyrna, gives it a 
Claim to particular Attention; and as, in the 
absence of Doctor Turnbull, occurrences may 
arise which will require the Aid and Protec- 
tion of the Government, I must recommend it 
to you to be very watchful to prevent any 
Injury or Detriment happening to the Settle- 
ment, and to give every Encouragement in 

(1) CO. 5/556, pp. 232-235, Germain to Tonyn. 

139 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

your power to promote its Growth and the Ad- 
vantage of the Proprietors"^^^ Tonyn proceeded 
to do very queer things for the growth of New 
Smyrna — things which now make it a vine- 
choked jungle behind the cheerful little 
American town bearing its name. 

Turnbull carried out the formality of being 
on leave of absence from Florida, by requesting 
of Germain, on July 1st, an extension of the 
time he had mentioned to Tonyn that he 
would be away. He was busy preparing a me- 
morial for the Lords Commissioners of Trade 
and Plantations, wherein his charges against 
Governor Tonyn were fully and formally set 
forth. ^^^ Germain's letter of reproof to the 
Governor did not reach Florida until Septem- 
ber, and in the meantime Tonyn showed no 
open hostility to the settlement. On July 19th 
he reported that a band of Indians had broken 
into some of the colonists' homes, stolen 

(1) CO. 5/556, pp. 232-235, Germain to Tonyn. 

(2) CO. 5/556, p. 245. 

140 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

clothes and robbed the bee-hives and corn- 
fields. Tonyn said that he called the Indians 
together and told them that in his country 
such crimes were punishable by death, but be- 
yond warning them he took no action/^^ Turn- 
bull received complaints from his son, that the 
Governor gave them no protection from these 
raids and that he had also prevented them be- 
ing supplied with the staple foods, which they 
still bought by shiploads/^^ It was for this rea- 
son, Turnbull claimed, that the Minorcans re- 
fused to join the Battalion of militia which was 
then being raised/^^ At any rate, whether from 
their long-standing quarrel with England, their 
anti-Protestant feeling or their antipathy to the 
Governor, as Turnbull claimed, Tonyn said, "I 
fear by what Colonel Bisset mentions, we can- 
not venture to raise at Doctor TurnbuU's Set- 
tlement more than one Company. "^^^ The 



(1) CO. 5/568, Tonyn to Germain, pp. 337-338. 

(2) CO. 5/155, British Transcripts in Congressional L^ibrary at Wash- 

ington, D. C, 241. 

(3) CO. 5/155 British Transcripts, Congressional Library, Box 241. 

(4) CO. 5/556, p. 744, Tonyn to Germain. 

141 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

probabilities are that the long absence of Turn- 
bull, and the hostility of the Governor, had 
precipitated many troubles. Andrew Turn- 
bull, Jr., his nephew, was not able to control 
his overseers, who were, undoubtedly, brutal 
to the people. These farmers had come from 
an island where there was no great aristocracy 
to oppress them, and they were independent 
and often impertinent by their own reports, ^^^ 
but their punishments must have been out of all 
proportion to their offenses. Whenever they 
complained to young Andrew Turnbull, they 
had to speak through their interpreters, the 
very men who oppressed them.^^^ The lash and 
irons, so frequently and cruelly used in Eng- 
land and the other colonies, — Virginia, for ex- 
ample — were new to them, and their hatred of 
their oppressors grew daily. Indian depreda- 
tions and trouble with food shipments com- 
pleted their disgust. So when the news of the 
successful invasion of Florida by the new 



(1) CO. 5/557. 

(2) CO. 5/557 pp. 439-44e. 



142 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

American Government, hostile to England, 
reached them, they began to hope that their 
deliverance was at hand. Andrew Turnbull, 
Jr., wrote on September 1st, when an Ameri- 
can Privateer appeared on the coast, "I cannot 
say what might be the consequence regarding 
the white people, as there is a good number of 
them at present a little discontented, and I am 
fully persuaded would join the Rebels immedi- 
ately on their landing at Smyrna. "^^^ He knew 
by experience that it was useless to apply di- 
rectly to Governor Tonyn for help, but wrote to 
Mr. Gordon and Colonel Bisset, who wrote to 
Tonyn that "This Information is very alarm- 
ing, especially with regard to Dr. TurnbuU's 
people, a great number of whom would cer- 
tainly join them — those that joined them of the 
Smyrna Settlements, would endeavor to plun- 
der our plantations — I shall set out im- 
mediately for Smyrna and will make the best 
disposition I can for the defense of the Place by 

(1) CO. 5/556, p. 767, Andrew Turnbull to Arthur Gordon, Esq. 

143 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

arming those we can trust and disarming the 
suspected. "^^^ 

Then came the letter reinstating Drayton, 
and the fate of New Smyrna was sealed. 
Tonyn wrote to Germain, ''I have always been 
active to promote the prosperity of it (New 
Smyrna) although I have ever doubted of its 
success. Such, My Lord, has been the state of 
that Settlement from its Commencement, that 
it has been always necessary to post a military 
guard there, to prevent trouble and insurrec- 
tion" — (those eight soldiers who acted as 
policemen for that whole section of the coun- 
try) — "and I am sorry to acquaint your Lord- 
ship, that at this Critical Juncture, it is a thorn 
in our side, as I am just now obliged to rein- 
force that Guard to preserve internal good 
order, when the Troops are much wanted to 
oppose the depredations of the Rebels on our 
north frontiers. "^^^ 



(1) CO. 5/556, pp. 771-772, Bisset to Tonyn. 

(2) CO. 5/556 p. 765. 

144 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

Meanwhile, TurnbuU thought he was set- 
tling all his troubles in England. On Septem- 
ber 19th/^^ and December 6th^^^ he presented 
two Memorials before the Lords of Trade. The 
gist of both is the same, except that one is 
fuller of detail in some charges, one in 
others. When the first Memorial was pre- 
sented, Lord Marchmont (Tonyn's sponsor) 
appeared before the Lords of Trade and had 
the charges set aside on the grounds that they 
included crimes other than so-called State 
Crimes and so did not come under the business 
of that body. Therefore, Turnbull prepared 
the second Memorial, confining himself to 
Tonyn's State Crimes. ^^^ They include the 
most serious accusations — everything, in fact, 
except disloyalty to England. He commenced 
by saying that Tonyn had refused "to grant 
lands to many Persons who had Titles to claim 
the same, particularly to your Memorialist, to 



(1) CO. 5/546, pp. 49-51. 

(2) CO. 5/546, pp. 53-54. 

(3) I^ansdowne Mss. Vol. 66, pp. 725-727, 

145 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

William Drayton, James Penman, Donald 
Maclean and others. And the said Governor 
has taken upon himself to grant Lands to such 
as had no claim nor Right thereto, namely to 
Alexander Gray, Alexander Skinner, James 
Forbes and others, which may be proved by 
the Records in the Secretary's Office. "^^^ Sec- 
ond, that he had ''Taken it upon him, to decide 
Causes cognisable in the Courts of Justice 
only, and also of examining into private con- 
tracts and agreements, particularly in calling 
for, and examining into the Validity of the 
Deeds of Agreement between your Memoria- 
list and the People of the Smyrnia Settle- 
ment"^^^ ''Which created such a Diffidence and 
Apprehension of the Validity of these Deeds 
of Agreement as disturbed the Peace, Order 
and Industry of the Smyrnia Settlement so 
much that its Ruin and Loss of that great 
Property was with Difficulty prevented by 



(1) CO. 5/546, pp. 49-51. 

(2) CO. 5/546, pp. 49-51. Smyrna spelled "Smyrnia" in these docu- 



ments. 



146 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

your Memorialist. "^^^ So, evidently the con- 
tracts had been investigated before Turnbull 
left for England, and had been found valid, for 
no settlers left Nev^ Smyrna until tw^o years 
after this. But the alarm of the Minorcans 
here referred to was due to a doubt which 
Tonyn circulated as to their right to own 
lands in Florida under the grant which Turn- 
bull held. The old clause requiring that the 
settlers be Protestants was unearthed and 
challenged, and the Minorcans were told that 
Turnbull intended to cheat them of their 
allotted land when their term of servitude had 
expired. It required little effort to spread the 
inference that since this could be done, it had 
been planned by Turnbull from the beginning. 
It was with difficulty that he had explained that 
by the same clause he could have deprived them 
three years after they had settled. And the 
damning fact remained that somebody actually 
could deprive them of their hard-earned land 

(1) CO. 5/546, pp. 53-54. 

147 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

by officially revealing their religion and pro- 
ducing Turnbull's grant. It mattered little 
to them that England and not TurnbuU was 
responsible for this policy — they hated Eng- 
land and longed for Spanish rule to bring 
again their familiar language and the Catholic 
religion to Florida. Their confidence in Turn- 
bull was destroyed and his name became an 
anathema to them. This was the situation 
which Turnbull left behind him in Florida 
though he did not know that Tonyn would 
be bold enough to deliberately push on the 
ruin of New Smyrna in the face of ministerial 
disapproval. Tonyn was indeed unprincipled 
in all his methods, for the Memorials continued 
to say that he had borrowed money from many 
people in Florida, giving them in exchange, 
bills payable by men in London, and these men 
had declared "they had none of Tonyn's 
money in their hands" so the bills were pro- 
tested and returned to America through the 
hands of Mr. John Graham of Georgia and Mr. 
James Penman of Florida. Turnbull flatly 

148 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

called this swindling, and declared with wither- 
ing sarcasm that as it had not been tried be- 
fore in Florida, it must be termed one of Gover- 
nor Tonyn's innovations !^^^ In addition to 
this practice, Tonyn had contrived to get Re- 
ceipts for public work done and then refused 
to pay the carpenters and other workmen, so 
that the chief master builder refused to repair 
the platform for the guns in Fort George on 
this account/^^ Tonyn had also bought up 

4 

staple provisions and put them in the hands 
of a monopoly to be sold at double price/^^ An 
accusation against Tonyn which followed this 
is particularly interesting because a year later 
Tonyn made the same charges against Turn- 
bull. Turnbull said "That Govr. Tonyn's 
Cruelties to his Servants and Negroes which he 
often inflicts with his own Hands, (for he 
generally is the Executioner himself), is an 
intolerable Nuisance, and greatly distressing 



(1) CO. 5/546, pp. 49-51, 4th Charge. 

(2) CO. 5/54, pp. 49-51, 5th Charge. 

(3) CO. 5/546, pp. 49-51, 6th Charge. 

149 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

to the Inhabitants of St. Augustine; not only 
by the Cries of the Sufferers, and a total dis- 
regard of all Decency in the Mode of his 
Punishments, but also by the Severity of them, 
which he carries to an incredible Height of 
Inhumanity, and by Cruelties unheard of be- 
fore in that Province."^^^ Turnbull claimed 
that Drayton had been suspended two days be- 
fore the trial of Tonyn's coachman for flogging 
a man to death, because Drayton would have 
found out that Tonyn was present and party 
to that crime/^^ What irony of fate it is to 
know that the writer of these words has, 
through Tonyn's friends, borne a more ter- 
rible name for cruelty than even his shocked 
description of the Governor's actions por- 
trayed! Finally, by suspending Chief Justice 
Drayton, and Turnbull, and by accusing the 
last Grand Jury of being ''Drayton's Crea- 
tures," he had acted from personal rancor 
rather than a sense of justice. "Govr. Tonyn's 

(1) CO. 5/546, pp. 49-51, 6th Charge. 
(3) Lansdowne Mss. Vol. 88, ff 173-174. 

150 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

conduct on the whole has been such as 
has entirel}^ lost him the Confidence of the 
People. Your Memorialist therefore prays 
That, for the Honour and Advantage of 
His Majesty's Service, and for restoring the 
Peace and Tranquillity of the Province of East 
Florida, Govr. Tonyn be removed from that 
Government. "^^^ Certainly this is a black rec- 
ord, but north of Florida there w^ere thousands 
of Revolutionists engaged in depriving Eng- 
land herself of an empire, and their crimes 
seemed to the Lords of Trade more serious 
than the misdeeds of Tonyn against individ- 
uals. Moreover, here v^as a governor who had 
stuck to his post when every other Royal 
governor had been driven from the colonies. 
Turnbull could not say Tonyn had any sym- 
pathy for America's cause — far from it — he 
had sent Indians, privateers, proclamations, a 
small reign of terror by land and sea, against 
the colonials. Therefore, Germain, who pre- 

(1) CO. 5/546, p. 51, Conclusion of Memorial. 

151 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

sided at these meetings of the Lords of Trade, 
advised Turnbull not to insist on his com- 
plaints being heard at that time, alleging that 
"It would be a tedious and troublesome Busi- 
ness to Administration, who then had Affairs 
of great National Importance on their Hands." 
"You also, engaged, My Lord," wrote Turn- 
bull, recalling this audience, "that Govr. Tonyn 
would be more cautious in future, which I then 
doubted, but was answered by your Lordship, 
that there were such Promises and Vouchers 
for him, that he would certainly behave bet- 
ter than before. "^^^ And so, Tonyn did not lose 
his office, but received another reproof from 
Germain,^^^ and an order, from the Lords of 
Trade, to "Lose no time in preparing such 
proofs and depositions as he may think neces- 
sary for his own defense, and to give full 
license for the same purpose to all persons on 



(1) Turnbull to Germain British Transcripts, Box 41, Lansdowne Ms. 

Vol. 1219, fo. 40. 

(2) CO. 5/556, pp. 695-697. Germain said to Tonyn that his actions were 

Conduct in a Governor that appears to be rather the eflfect of sud- 
den passion than Moderation and sound Policy." 

152 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

behalf of the Memorialists."^'^ Turnbull 
waited in London and made his defense before 
the Lords of Trade to that list of charges for 
which Tonyn had suspended him on March 
30, 1776. As Drayton had already been 
exonerated from his part in the Bryan affair, 
and as TurnbuU's part was even less than his, 
it is not necessary to relate his answer to this 
part of the charge. The next was that Turn- 
bull had made use of his faction to have him- 
self appointed, instead of the Governor, to pre- 
sent a "Loyal Address" to the King. Turn- 
bull denied this, and said that the Agent of the 
Province had first been considered, instead of 
the Governor, the latter of whom "The voters 
objected to, as he had shown himself adverse 
and hostile to the meeting of the Inhabitants, 
suspecting that it was intended to draw up 
Complaints against him."^^^ The last charge, 
Turnbuirs leaving the Province without writ- 
ten permit had already been dismissed by Ger- 

(1) CO. 391/88, p. 200. Extract from Journal of Trade and Plantations. 

(2) CO. 5/546, pp. 77-85. Defense of Turnbull before Lords of Trade. 

153 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

main who himself granted Turnbull an exten- 
sion of leave. 

Turnbuirs business in England was (con- 
cluded by April 14, 1777, when Germain wrote 
the result of the investigations to Governor 
Tonyn. It is a statesman-like document, and 
worthy to be quoted for its handling of the 
whole question. 

"Whitehall 
14th April 1777. 
Governor Tonyn 

Sir, 

In my Letter to you of the 2d Instant, I avoided 
taking notice of your Suspension of Dr. Turnbull from 
his Office of Secretary, and of the Instances you 
State of his Misbehavior which induced you to take 
that Step; for as he had also exhibited a Complaint 
against you, to the Board of Trade, it necessarily be- 
came my Duty to lay the whole Matter before their 
Lordships, and until they should make their Report to 
His Majesty, no Opinion could be formed of the pro- 
priety of your Conduct. 

A Discussion of this nature, especially where the 
Parties have many & powerful Friends who, on account 
of their great Property in Florida will naturally inter- 
est themselves in the Decision, soon becomes a more 
serious Business than the original Matter seemed to 
promise; and in this Case, whatever the final Determina- 
tion might have been, the Consequences of the Proceed- 

154 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

ing must unavoidably have proved disagreeable to you. 

The Common Rules of Justice would have re- 
quired that you should have been heard in support of 
your Charge against Dr. Turnbull, as well as in your 
Defense against the Accusations brought by him 
against you, and I could not have advised the King 
to permit you to leave the Province of East Florida 
at such a Crisis without sending out a Person to suc- 
ceed you in the Governm't on whose Ability and Zeal 
for His Majesty's Service I could have the same Re- 
liance as I have upon yours. To avoid the Necessity 
of so disagreeable a Step, I thought it best to endeavor 
to get rid of the whole Matter, and which I was the 
more desirous of doing, as from what I had seen of it, 
there did not appear to be any sufficient Ground for 
a serious Inquiry. I took, therefore, some Pains to 
convince Dr. Turnbull that it was greatly (to) his 
Interest, and that of his Connexions, as a Planter, as 
well as his Duty as a Servant of the Crown to live 
upon good Terms with the Governor of the Province; 
that where nothing of Injustice or Violence could be 
alleged to have happened, ofifences proceeding from 
mere Mistakes, or Infirmities that were perhaps con- 
stitutional, should be passed over among Men en- 
gaged in the common Cause of supporting the Rights 
of the Crown & promoting the Prosperity of the 
Province; That, on your part, I had no doubt he would 
find a Disposition to bury in Oblivion every past 
OfiFence & to show him that Civility & Attention which 
his great Share in the public Stake so well entitled him 
to, and that if he conducted himself with the same 
Propriety towards you, mutual confidence and Friend- 
ship must be the happy effect, an Event which must 
greatly serve to promote the public prosperity, by 
restoring Harmony among the principal people of the 
Province. Finding what I had said made all the 

155 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

Impression I could wish, & perceiving him thoroughly- 
disposed to adopt the Mode of Conduct I had recom- 
mended, I proposed to him, that ,he should take 
the first Step towards a Reconciliation, and withdraw 
his ^complaint against you; That I would then with- 
hold from the Lords of Trade all Cognizance of your 
Charges against him, and recommend to you to remove 
his Suspension, upon Condition of his making a suit- 
able Acknowledgment of the Impropriety of his Con- 
duct in quitting the Province without your Leave in 
Writing, & giving Assurance of a candid & respectful 
Behavior towards you in future. This proposal he 
very readily embraced, and as I cannot doubt his 
Sincerity, it now only remains with you to accept of 
the Conditions, and to put an End to an Altercation 
which must, in the present Circumstances of Affairs 
be very injurious to the King's Service, and highly 
detrimental to the Province. To afford a proper 
Opportunity for so desirable an Issue, I make Dr. 
Turnbull the Bearer of this Letter; and I shall extend 
it no further than to add my sincere Wishes that it 
may be the Occasion of restoring that good Humour 
& mutual Confidence among the King's Officers, which 
is at all times necessary, but at present is so essential 
to the public Safety and Advantage. 

I am &c. 

Geo. Germain. "(1) 



(1) CO. 5/557, pp. 115-121. 

156 



CHAPTER X 



THE FALL OF NEW SMYRNA 




ONYN had known, since Drayton's 
reinstatement, which way the wind 
blew; and he had been proceeding 
industriously to execute justice 
upon his enemies himself. Tempt- 
ing offers were made to the Minorcans to 
join the Militia, freedom from indentures, 
land in St. Augustine, assurances of pro- 
tection if they ran away — all were put be- 
fore them by Mr. Forbes' agents, most con- 
spicuous of whom was Joseph Purcell, the 
Minorcan interpreter, who later went to work 
as draughtsman for Romans. 

The latter part of March, a few of the set- 

157 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

tiers came to St. Augustine. The manner of 
their escape from New Smyrna is picturesquely 
told by Romans. On the pretense of making a 
fishing trip to the coast, (Romans must have 
forgotten that he had said previously the Minor- 
cans w^ere forbidden to fish) a small group of 
men received leave of absence for several days, 
and, on reaching the beach, at once set out to 
w^alk the eighty miles north to St. Augustine. 
They vv^ere hardy countrymen now, and knew 
their ground, so they reached St. Augustine 
safely, and swam Matanzas Inlet with their 
clothes on their heads. Tonyn simply told Ger- 
main that they were persuaded to return, but 
they must have received some assurances of 
support for, the 1st of May, ninety men appear- 
ed in town, demanding to be released from their 
indentures, which they declared had expired. 
They applied to the District Attorney, Mr. 
Henry Yonge, Jr., who told them they must 
make their complaints before a Justice of the 
Peace, which they accordingly did. Eighteen 
men were chosen to represent the rest who 

158 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

were told by Governor Tonyn to return and 
secure the crops/^^ Mr. Yonge formally re- 
ported these occurrences to the Governor and 
said: "I observe a number of Cruelties and in- 
deed Murders committed by some of the Doc- 
tor's servants (which from his character 
certainly could never had come to his knowl- 
edge). I therefore think it my duty to lay a 
Copy of the Several Depositions before your 
Excellency. "^^^ How he could have read the 
depositions, as sworn to by the Minorcans, 
and thought that Turnbull was ignorant of 
them is inconceivable. Either his statement is 
a studied pose, or he did not believe all the 
accusations made in these documents, for 
many of them were astonishing charges against 
Turnbull himself. 

Upon first reading these short but dreadful 
papers, the writer was inclined to try to revise 
the point of view of this narrative and to show 



(1) CO. 5/557, pp. 420-422. 

(2) CO. 5/557, pp. 225-226. 



159 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

Turnbull as the villain he was painted, but the 
whole preceding correspondence, mass of docu- 
ments and public papers were in direct con- 
flict with such a viewpoint and clearly showed 
such a position historically wrong — they bore 
nothing but testimonials in TurnbuU's favor. 
Then, on re-reading the Minorcans' state- 
ments, and thoroughly analyzing them, a 
harmonizing solution offered itself, for it was 
found that all the charges of violent crime were 
placed against TurnbuU's overseers, without 
implicating Turnbull himself. The misdeeds 
with which he was personally credited, were 
fraudulent dealings with his settlers, or small 
meannesses worthy only of an irresponsible or 
ignorant underling or servant. The most 
serious charges made against Turnbull were 
that he refused to allow the men to leave when 
their indentured time was up, and even forced 
two witnesses to sign a forged contract against 
Lewis Sanche in order to prolong his term.^" 

(1) CO. 5/557, pp. 479-480. All of these charges are to be fotind in 
CO. 5/551, and several page references being given here simply 
to locate a few specific charges. 

160 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

Sanche was an overseer, but one who was in 
favor with those of the colony who made com- 
plaints. He said that Tnrnbull had ordered him 
to beat the people very hard and not to mind 
killing a man, but that he had refused. Beyond 
a doubt, if these charges were true, Turnbull 
was not the good man that he had always been 
considered, but the hitherto unknown events 
leading up to these affidavits have been re- 
lated in much detail because they do not by 
any means bear out these statements. Turn- 
bull was the friend and partner of a Prime 
Minister and a Member of the British Cabinet, 
he was well known to have other powerful 
friends^^' and to have been the social protege 
of that estimable man, the Earl of Shelburne.^^^ 
The lifelong friendship of such men as William 
Drayton, James Penman and Captain Bisset 
is testimonial enough that he could not have 
been such a petty schemer and monster of 

(1) CO. 5/557, pp. 115-121, Germain to Tonyn. 

(2) British Transcripts, Box 41, Cong. Library, Lansdowne Mss. 1219, 

fo. 34. 

161 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

cruelty as these accusations describe. When it 
is considered that his reputation rests upon the 
statement of a Governor who had been for 
two years his outspoken enemy for other 
reasons, and the accusations of a few of the 
poor foreigners, whom no one could blame for 
wishing to escape servitude, it must be left to 
the impartial judge to declare whether their 
stories of Turnbull are true or not. There is 
no reason to believe that during the latter 
period of the colony, the Minorcans at times 
were not ill-treated by the overseers, however. 
Their stories of the ingenious cruelties of some 
of their overseers are too fully and heartrend- 
ingly told to be denied. They are the voices 
of the innumerable difficulties of the colony 
now reaching a climax. The undertaking was 
too large for a private concern and yet the 
English government was unwilling to shoulder 
it in such turbulent times, while the Gover- 
nor was a political enemy of the proprietor, and 
reluctant to guard against Indian raids or 
to urge merchants to deliver shipments of 

162 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

supplies in the face of Revoluntionary disturb- 
ances. Add to this the rehgious pressure 
brought to bear by Spain on the colonists and 
their natural distaste for a long term of serv- 
ice in a community of freeholders and it is 
easy to see how men without proper authority 
or scruples could lead the Minorcans to believe 
that the future held nothing for them at New 
Smyrna. 

Between May and July, 1777, Tonyn said 
that many of the settlers were freed by the 
Courts and the rest set at liberty by TurnbuU's 
attorneys. ^'^ As a matter of fact, the only ones 
freed by the Courts were a few who had been 
contracted for by their parents when under 
age. The Court of Sessions declared the 
others still legally bound to serve the proprie- 
tors of New Smyrna and ordered them back to 
the settlement. '^^ But Governor Tonyn had by 
this time firmly implanted in their minds the 

(i) CO. 5/557, No. 42. 

(2) Sackville Mss. America, 1755-7, No. 100, also Lans. Mss. Vol. 66, 
pp. 725-727. 

163 



DR. ANDREW TURNBUIvL 

idea that he would protect them if they 
repudiated their contracts. When they were 
confined to prison and a diet of bread and water 
until they should consent to fulfill their con- 
tracts, Tonyn sent them extra provisions and 
forced Mr. Penman, TurnbulFs attorney, to pay 
for these things. ^^^ Encouraged by the Gover- 
nor's disregard of the Courts, the whole settle- 
ment moved bag and baggage to St. Augus- 
tine, despite the protests of TurnbuU's attor- 
neys. But no provision whatever had been 
made for housing or feeding these people, and 
sixty-five of them died (without medical attend- 
ance being offered them) after sleeping under 
the trees and beside old walls in the heavy 
rains of August and September. ^^^ There had 
not been a single death at New Smyrna during 
the ten months of Turnbull's absence in Eng- 
land, but there were ten deaths a week among 
these unfortunates after they came to St. 



(1) Lansdowne Mss. Vol. 66, pp. 725-727. 

(2) Sackville Mss. America, 1755-7, No. 100, 

164 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

Augustine. In December over a hundred 
women and children were begging around the 
Governor's house for bread. The men who 
were still able bodied had taken service on the 
cruisers or enlisted in the corps of Rangers, 
and the remainder were left to build miserable 
hovels for the women and children on the 
small lots assigned to them north of St. Augus- 
tine. They had no money with which to buy 
supplies to start farming and led a most pre- 
carious existence as fishermen along the shore 
of the Inlet. Tonyn was not seriously con- 
cerned about them — they had served his pur- 
pose and were left to shift for themselves. 

Since Turnbull could not say that Tonyn 
was disloyal, he did not succeed in having him 
removed from office, but he returned to 
America triumphantly bearing his own re- 
instatement in office. ^^^ When he landed in 
New York in November, 1777, he received his 
first news of the ruin of New Smyrna and an 

(1) CO. 5/557, pp. 115-121. 

165 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

embargo on ships held him there in a state 
of great uncertainty and distress for some 
time. Needless to say, his relations with the 
Governor were anything but cordial when he 
finally reached Florida. He found his colonists 
settled in St. Augustine, without provisions, 
his property damaged by American raiders 
and Indians, and crops in the worst condition 
they had been in since the beginning of the 
colony. He openly accused Tonyn of being 
the cause of this wholesale destruction. Some 
idea of the value of the larger part of the 
equipment at New Smyrna and of the extent 
of this loss is given in the account of carpentry 
work completed by \777 '}^^ 

Pounds 

Dr. Turnbuirs house 270 

2 Large store houses 500 

1 Smaller store house 100 

(1) Treasury, 11/1. 

166 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

Wind mill 300 

Indigo house 100 

145 Other houses @ 35 pounds each. 5075 

4 Bridges, cedar, @ 30 pounds each 120 

22 Double sets of Indigo vats 1100 

7565 
or $37,390.01^4 

One of Tonyn's methods of working among 
the Minorcans is revealed in a short battle of 
words over the aforementioned Joseph Pur- 
cell, one of Tonyn's interpreters. TurnbuU 
accused Purcell of serving the ends of his 
enemies and stirring up revolt at New Smyrna; 
and Purcell wrote to the Governor to be 
exonerated, receiving in reply a letter of praise 
for his upright character and a broadside of 
condemnation for Turnbull. "You are at 
liberty to make use of this Letter in your 
Justification against the Calumnies of the 
Malicious," concluded the Governor. Turn- 
bull must have, also, accused Purcell of 
exaggerating the charges of the colonists, for 

167 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

Tonyn says, in the same letter, "I had no 
reason to think that in the presence of so many 
Witnesses, that you did not explain that 
Language into English without exaggera- 
tion/'^^^ 

Tonyn's description to Germ.ain of his coup 
de grace at New Smyrna is not without grim 
humor. "In obedience to your Lordship's 
commands, I have paid. My Lord, and shall 
pay, particular attention to the Smyrna Settle- 
ment ; but, my Lord, I am convinced that your 
Lordship does not desire that I should give 
the least countenance to Injustice, Tyranny 
and Oppression. "^^^ He took occasion to com- 
plain that Drayton refused to have the Minor- 
cans' case brought before him, directing an- 
other Magistrate to preside. Drayton was 
always careful to avoid the appearance of 
partizanship while in office. The judge who 
took his place instructed the colonists to return 

(1) CO. 5/558, pp. 499-500. Letters from Tonyn to Purcell, May 27, 

1778. 

(2) CO. 5/557, pp. 420-422. 

168 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

to New Smyrna and finish their contracts with 
Turnbull, a decision which would certainly 
have been challenged as colored by friendship 
for Turnbull if it had been rendered by Dray- 
ton. Tonyn calmly announced the most 
evident falsehood concerning the financial 
consequences of his actions at New Smyrna: 
"Whatever Ideas the gentlemen in England 
concerned in it (New Smyrna) have of its suc- 
cess, I will venture My Lord, to af^rm, and I 
am confident that the discharging of the white 
people will be no real loss to them; as the ex- 
pense of their and their Families' maintenance 
will ever equal the value of their labor."^^^ 
Germain's opinion of his high handed course 
may be gathered from his reply to Tonyn. 

"Whitehall 
19th Feby. 1778 
Govr. Tonyn 

Sir 

* * * 

The desertion of the Smyrna Settlement by the 
People is an unfortunate circumstance for the province 
and must occasion a severe loss to the Proprietors. If 
it be in your power to lessen that loss, or to give them 

(1) CO. 5/557, pp. 420-422. 

169 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

any assistance in retrieving their Affairs, I must de- 
sire you will exert your Endeavors on their behalf. 

I am, etc., 

Geo. Germain."(i) 

No comment on the black charges heaped 
against TurnbuU is to be found. Tonyn 
had spent his thunder in England in vain, but 
he had accomplished his destructive purposes 
in Florida without official sanction. Turnbull 
found that the young men of the colony had 
been sent to help the Indians scalp the Ameri- 
can settlers on the Georgia border, a mission 
which Tonyn declared was favored by Eng- 
land. "If this is the case, I cannot expect any 
redress," wrote Turnbull in great indignation 
at this cruelty to defenseless women and 
children, but he added, ''If the Grenvilles join 
me, I am resolved to pursue this Governor of 
an American Province to infamy. "^^^ Messrs. 
Penman, Drayton and Bisset declared that 
Tonyn deliberately broke up the settlement to 



(1) CO. 5/558, p. 487. 

(2) Lans. Mss. Vol. 88, f. 113. 



170 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

get recruits for his Rangers, since there were 
more men of fighting age in the colony than in 
the rest of the Province/^' 

On August 7, 1778, Turnbull wrote a curt 
note to Tonyn, saying that he intended to live 
in St. Augustine henceforth, and would act 
himself as Secretary and Clerk of the Council/^^ 
Tonyn stood his ground — he replied that he 
could enjoy the salary, but that his conduct, 
since his return from England, had been so 
extraordinary that he would not allow him 
the exercise of his offices/^^ This conduct was 
admitted and described by Turnbull himself: 
''The misery and wretchedness in which I 
found the Smyrnean people provoked me to re- 
proach Governor Tonyn with it in such a tone 
and terms as I never made use of before to any 
Gentleman; which contrary to his usual man- 



(1) I.ans. Mss. Vol. 66, pp. 725-727. 

(2) CO. 5/558, p. 487. 

(3) CO. 5/558, p. 491. 

171 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

ner, he took very tamely. "^^^ But Tonyn sent 
some one else to do his fighting for him. ''A 
few days ago," wrote Turnbull, "he sent a big 
man of his connections to insult me, but he 
proved so much of a bully that he put up with 
the reproof of a good cane for his Imperti- 
nence." The old Scotchman was not to be 
tamed, and so Tonyn retaliated by depriving 
him of his Secretaryship. Though he con- 
tinued to fight gamely, his ruin and the failure 
of his long cherished settlement weighed 
heavily upon Turnbull. ''I do not give Tonyn 
or his mean Prowler Lieut. Gov. Moultrie, the 
Satisfaction of seeing that their underhand 
Machinations or avowed oppressions affect me 
in the least. "^^^ It was the harshness with 
which his family was treated in his absence 
which had wounded Turnbull most of all. Mrs. 
Turnbull had been kept in a constant state of 
terror by the governor who refused to send pro- 
tection to the settlement, but sent such threats. 



(1) lyans. Mss. Vol. 88, f. 173-4. 

(2) Lans. Mss. Vol. 88 f. 193. 

172 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

rumors and warnings to induce her to leave her 
post at New Smyrna, that she kept a small 
vessel ready to fly at a moment's notice, to the 
Bahamas. Her health and spirits were for a 
time seriously impaired, and Turnbull vowed 
that ''The treatment of my family in my ab- 
sence can never be forgiven. "^^^ I really be- 
lieve,'' he said in the tone of fond protection 
which he always used when alluding to his 
wife, ''that he is the only Person, male or fe- 
male, she ever knew that would have given her 
such Pain, especially when without a Pro- 
tector."^^^ 

A letter to Germain from Tonyn again begs 
for Turnbull's dismissal, but on the ground of 
disloyalty to England, very probably because 
of the latter's outspoken disapproval of the 
scalping raid into Georgia. Tonyn makes an 
interesting admission about the Revolution in 



(1) Lans. Mss. Vol. 88 ff. 175-6. 

(2) Lans. Mss. Vol. 66, p. 714. 

173 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

this letter/^^ ''They (Turnbull and his friends) 
are gentlemen, but, my Lord, in all the colo- 
nies, Georgia excepted, the principal people 
have been at the head of this rebellion. "*^^ This 
must have been a very reluctant admission on 
Tonyn's part, for Turnbull's disdain had dug 
deep into his official pride. Twice he men- 
tioned in letters the fact that, for two years, 
when Turnbull came to town, he had not paid 
his respects at the Governor's house, but 
passed by with his friends in haughty aloof- 
ness. The fact that the higher officers at the 
post in St. Augustine still sided with Turn- 
bull was a similar thorn in the Governor's 
side, for not only did they treat him cavalierly, 
but their absence deprived his court of their 
social prestige. Tonyn accused General Pre- 
vost and Lieut. Colonel Fuser of disloyalty and 
affection for Turnbull's cause, adding to this 
list Mr. Penman and Mr. Mann.^^^ The longer 



(1) CO. 5/558, pp. 101 fo. 3-4. 

(2) CO. 5/558, pp. 101-103-104. 

(3) Historical Mss. Commission. Amer. Mss. in Royal Institution V. 11, 

pp. 127-8 ; lyCtter from Tonyn to Gen. S. Henry Clinton. 

174 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

the Governor's list of "traitors'' grew, the more 
creditable they appeared — the soldiers and 
planters who had made Florida prosperous 
under Governor Grant. 

Both of Turnbull's partners had died, and 
the period for division of their grants had 
passed, so their heirs in England, seeing that 
the colonists were disbanded, now requested 
a division of the grants according to their 
agreement. Tonyn, of course, received this 
information officially, and though Turnbull 
protested that he was quite willing to divide* 
and had filed his papers and accounts with the 
Attorney General, the management of the 
property was taken over by Tonyn. The lat- 
ter said that Turnbull's conduct during these 
proceedings was extravagant, and it may well 
be imagined that the hot-headed old Scotch- 
man, long an autocrat in Florida, fought at 
bay like a wounded tiger. His family was liv- 
ing in St. Augustine, now, his younger sons 
at school, his grown son and daughters join- 

175 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

ing the faction which was rocking the tiny 
capital with its quarrel. In one of his com- 
plaints against this friction, an interesting hint 
of the extent of his former travels comes out, 
'*It is extraordinary that a man who lived long 
in Turkey, who wandered among wild Arabs 
and was even respected in Barbary, cannot live 
under the English Governor of an American 
province. "^^' The Minorcans, who lived in the 
section of the city assigned to them by Tonyn, 
did not detract from the bitterness of the feel- 
ing on both sides, and their former condition 
of indenture was represented to them by the 
champions of the Governor as degrading and 
cruel. It was, verily, a tempest in a teapot. 
On June 24, 1778, when about one thousand 
Americans landed at Amelia Narrows, and 
started to cut a passage through, there was 
such dissension between the officers and their 
men that Colonel Fuser could not muster 
enough men to oppose the invaders, and had 

(1) Lans. Mss. Vol. 88, ff. 173-174. 

176 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

to retire and fortify St. Johns Bluff, near the 
mouth of the St. Johns River.^^^ On August 
30th of the same year, the Americans sailed 
down the coast and carried off thirty negroes 
from New Smyrna, ^^^ but soon after this, the 
brilliant campaign of General Prevost in Geor- 
gia, removed the press of the Revolution be- 
yond the Florida boundary. 



(1)' Forbes, p. 29. 
(2) CO. 5/569, p. 79. 



177 



CHAPTER XI 
THE FIGHT FOR THE PROPERTY 

HE suit against Turnbull for di- 
vision of the New Smyrna prop- 
erty occupied the whole of the 
year 1779, during which time the 
estate was in the hands of Moul- 
trie and Tonyn, attorneys for the English 
partners/^^ It scandalized Turnbull, an ardent 
student of legal precedent, for Tonyn to 
act as attorney for his partners, judge in 
the suit and accuser against him. His let- 
ters to Lords Shelburne and Germain fairly 
bristle with wrath and outraged justice. By 
this time, however, things had gone so badly 




(1) lyansdowne Mss. V. 1219, fo. 34. 



179 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

with the English cause in America that the 
harassed ministers paid no attention to him. 
Things were going very badly for his party 
in Florida too. Drayton had finally been re- 
moved for his refusal to allow the Minorcans' 
cases to be tried in his court, and was living 
at Magnolia Gardens, then known as Drayton 
House, near Charleston. As a final insult, 
Tonyn declared that he believed Turnbull in- 
tended to join Mr. Drayton in Charleston and 
evade paying an indebtedness charged to him 
on the Smyrna estate. This was all the more 
absurd, since Tonyn himself had said that 
Turnbull's reverses had left him without 
money, so he had nothing with which to pay 
anyway. ^^^ Then an order requiring him to 
pay four thousand pounds bail was issued 
against him on February 17, 1780, and on his 
failure to give it, he was placed in the custody 
of the Provost Marshal. Turnbull filed his 
demurrer to this action, in which he declared 

(1) CO. 5/558, pp. 484-6, Tonyn to Wm. Knox. 

180 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

that, for his own sake, he had no intention of 
leaving Florida until the estate was divided, and 
that he had furnished every document and ac- 
count in his possession to hasten the settle- 
ment/^^ 

As a matter of fact, Tonyn was using Ger- 
main's request, already quoted, that he aid the 
partners in England in recovering their prop- 
erty, to ruin TurnbuU. Tonyn did not at this 
time even know the names of the heirs of 
Turnbull's partners and issued his orders 
against Turnbull, using the name of Earl 
Temple, who had died previously. 

Turnbull did indeed plan to leave Florida 
as soon as New Smyrna was divided, for he 
wrote to his old friend the Earl of Shelburne 
for a letter of introduction to Lord Cornwallis 
at Charleston/^^ He was still in the custody 
of the Provost Marshal and the illegality of 

(1) British Transcripts, Box 41, folio 49, lyans. Mss. Library of Congress. 

(2) British Transcripts, Box 4, in Congressional Library at Washington. 

Lans. Mss. 1219, fo. 34. 

181 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

the measures which had been taken against 
him by Tonyn was clear and bitter in his 
mind. His family alone was his consolation. 
"Mrs. Turnbull presents her Respects to your 
Lordship. We are happy in seeing that the 
part of our family which is formed turn out 
well, two out of three Daughters are married 
much to our Mind, and the third is promised. 
My eldest Son, after having had as liberal an 
Education as I could give him, has most cheer- 
fully taken to farming as an Employment, and 
for a better Reason, that is, to get a living by 
it. My three youngest sons are at School here, 
and promise well. This Detail, my Lord, 
would be impertinent and troublesome to 
many, but I am not apprehensive that it will 
be so to your Lordship. ''^^^ 

Two days after this Turnbull wrote another 
long and masterly account of Tonyn's actions, 
to Germain, with the advice of his attorney on 



(1) L^nsdowne, Vol. 1219, fo. 34, British Transcripts, Box 41, Congres- 
sional Library, Washington. 

182 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

the many points of law which Tonyn had over- 
ridden, but the heirs of his partners, entirely in 
Tonyn's hands, refused to arbitrate or settle 
the estate except by a suit in Chancery which 
Turnbull could not now afford/^^ 

Finally through the combined pleas of his 
attorney, Mr. Penman and his friends in Eng- 
land, he arrived at an understanding with 
Lady Mary Duncan and the Grenvilles, the 
heirs of his original partners. Though they 
owed Turnbull for late disbursements, and 
though he had secured by his efforts more ad- 
ditional grants of land than they, only a small 
part of the estate remained for Turnbull. ^"^^ He 
was not allowed his liberty under any other 
condition than the surrender of all but a small 
portion of his share. ^^^ He accordingly relin- 
quished claim to the other lands and henceforth 
the properties were owned separately. ^*^ This 



(1) Lans. Mss. Vol. 88, fo. 189. 

(2) Lans. Mss. Vol. 66, pp. 725-727. 

(3) Lans. Mss. Vol. 88 f. 189. 

(4) T. 77/9 Indenture of Feb. 21, 1781. 

183 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

was a great relief to Turnbull as he was now 
free, after being in custody for one year and 
seven months, but he vowed that as he was 
the victim of extortion, he would do all in his 
power to recover his property. He left Florida 
with his family and Mr. James Penman on 
May 7th, in a small sailing vessel which he 
chartered. Another small vessel with all that 
remained of his personal property was 
wrecked on the journey north, and so very 
much reduced in worldly possessions, he 
landed in Charleston May 13th. Tonyn's 
malignity never slumbered, however. He had 
even tried to persuade the captain not to take 
the Turnbulls and also wrote to Sir Henry 
Clinton at Charleston, saying he had heard 
that Mr. Penman was to act as Commissary 
and that Drayton and Turnbull expected to be 
employed in the army departments there. 
Therefore he had taken it upon himself to say 
that they were men of a desperate faction and 
ought not to hold office in the government. ^^' 

(1) Historical Mss. Commission, Amer. Mss. in Royal Institute, Vol. II, 
pp. 127-128. 

184 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

As proof of Turnbull's alleged misconduct he 
declared that when the American army in- 
vaded Florida, Turnbull held aloof and did 
not offer to help make a stand. Turnbull 
heard of this charge and referred Germain to 
General Prevost to deny it, since he had 
traveled one hundred miles to the British 
camp on the St. John's to offer his services, 
which were accepted. ^^^ Thus by actual false- 
hood, as well as any other means in his power, 
Tonyn pursued his former Secretary. His 
influence did not reach Charleston, however, 
Lord Shelburne wrote to Cornwallis and Sir 
Guy Carleton in his behalf and Colonels Small 
and Moncrief and the powerful Drayton family 
easily convinced the authorities that Turnbull 
was being made a victim of personal enmity 
by Tonyn. So, just as Turnbull had vindi- 
cated Dra3^ton in Florida, Drayton defended 
Turnbull in Charleston against their old 
enemy. The two men remained close friends 

(1) CO. 5/158, pp. 465-468. 

185 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

and Drayton's name appears as executor of 
Turnbull's will/'' 

Turnbull arrived in Charleston May 13, 
1782, and on December 14th of the same year 
Charleston was evacuated by the British. 
Turnbull wrote to Shelburne that as Tonyn 
held the papers he must give the Auditors of 
the New Smyrna Estate, he felt obliged to stay 
there and try to get them, rather than return 
to England without them/^' In a footnote to 
a list of claims, with remarks by Mr. Geo. 
Miller, ^^' there is an interesting account of 
what happened to Turnbull under these con- 
ditions: 

"Immediately after the evacuation of Charleston 
Dr. Turnbull and Mr. James Penman were required 
to become citizens, which they refusing to do, and 
being men of respectable character, the matter was 
left to the decision of a committee of the Legislature 
then sitting, who agreed that they should remain as 
His Majesty's subjects; the only instance, I believe of 
the kind, that happened between the Evacuation of 
this Province and the peace, which redounds much to 

(1) Probate Records, Charleston Co, S. C. Book B, p. 636. 

(2) I^ans. Mss. Vol. 88 f. 189. 

(3) Treasury 77/20 (4). 

186 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

their honour, since it is at once a proof of their sturdy 
Loyalty and the high respect in which their Characters 
were held." 

Andrew Turnbull, Jr., also was included in 
the Certificates 

"of their being His Majesty's subjects and in no 
sense Citizens of any of the United States * * * and 
have produced proof to me that they pay the Alien 
Duty (i.e. 4% ad valorem on goods imported into the 
province)." 

And so Turnbull stuck to his determination 
of remaining a British subject in the face of 
all suspicion. He had said to Germain, ''It is 
probable that Govr. Tonyn flatters himself of 
being able to drive me, thro' Despair, to such 
a Step, but he will find himself grossly mis- 
taken, for the Amor Patriae, and of the British 
Constitution, while it lasts, will always hold 
me fast as a British Subject, which, however, 
is not meant to imply, that I am in love with 
the present Ministers, nor with their Meas- 
ures, "^^^ he concluded dryly. 

(1) British Transcripts, Box 41, Lans. Mss. Vol. 1219, fo. 40. 

187 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

This loyalty was all the more praiseworthy 
when it is known that he was still in sore finan- 
cial straits as a result of Germain's latest policy 
of simply letting the trouble with Tonyn wait 
until the greater question of the rebellious 
colonies was settled. 

To relieve some of the burden of his father's 
large family, Nichol Turnbull had stayed at 
St. Augustine as Assistant to the Deputy 
Commissary of Provisions, and though he had 
a good education took the first work that 
offered itself, issuing rations to the garrison. 
The two oldest girls had married but their hus- 
bands died at the very beginning of their 
careers, and one young widow had returned to 
her father with her two children, while the 
other had remarried. Three sons still at 
school and the child of one of Turnbull's 
friends (who had been persecuted to his death 
by Tonyn, in the opinion of Turnbull) lived at 
home, making a family of nine people depend- 
ent upon the efforts of the doctor, now in his 
sixty-second year. 

188 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

When Turnbull wrote again to Germain, he 
said he had left Florida and would never re- 
turn while Tonyn was governor/^' Germain 
therefore accepted his resignation and his 
former Deputy, Mr. Yeats, became Secretary. 
Mr. Yeats was the husband of Tonyn's niece 
and therefore very acceptable to the governor. 

The state of New Smyrna by 1783 may be 
judged from the following description attached 
to one of the grants: 

"I was at Smirna last in November 1783. The place 
was very well situated for trade being so near the 
Inlet; and the Country round it for planting as the 
land was of a good quality, the river also abounded in 
a remarkable degree with various kinds of fish — I had 
the curiosity when there to count all the houses both 
in Town and Country and to the best of my recollec- 
tion there were some few more than one hundred 
fram'd buildings left standing, or unburnt, including 
those in the homble — Grenville's part — many of them 
were inhabited by Refugees at that time."^^^ 

Governor Tonyn's undisputed authority was 
short-lived, however. On September 3, 1783, 

(1) CO. 5/158, pp. 465-468. 

(2) Treasury TT p , Memo. — Schedule and Valuation of L,ady Mary Dun- 

can's estate. 

189 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

a treaty was promulgated whereby Florida 
was ceded to Spain and the English were given 
eighteen months to get out or become Catho- 
lics. The heaviness of this calamity to the 
English inhabitants must be described to be 
appreciated. For twenty years the English 
government had induced many wealthy men 
to aid in the settlement of Florida and in 1778 
alone nearly seven thousand loyal planters 
had been persuaded to leave the rebel colo- 
nies/^^ so that they were now unable, on ac- 
count of their open stand against America, to 
return to the United States. It may be 
imagined that Governor Tonyn was not popu- 
lar with these men then. The property of 
the planters consisted mainly of lands iand 
slaves, and when they were obliged to sell at 
once to any Spaniard willing or in any way 
able to buy, the result was ruinous. The 
British government sent a fleet of transports 
to Amelia Harbor at the mouth of the St. 

(1) Fairbanks' History of Florida, (3d Ed.), p. 176. 

190 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

Mary's river to take the refugees away, and 
there ensued as melancholy a spectacle as that 
of the Acadian deportation from Nova Scotia. 
Families and friends said goodbye forever and 
left their beautiful Florida homes, some for 
England, others for Nova Scotia, the Bahamas 
and Jamaica. The Minorcans gave Tonyn to 
understand that they intended to leave also, 
and some actually were sent to Dominica, the 
Bahamas and Europe. ^^^ But when Governor 
de Zespedes came to Florida in June, 1784, he 
brought a promotion for Pietro Campo, the 
Minorcan priest, and soon the majority of the 
Minorcans were firmly ensconsed as Spanish 
subjects. This seemed to be a distinct dis- 
appointment to Tonyn, who wrote Lord 
Sydney that he considered it a violation of the 
treaty of peace. ^^^ 

Since old settlers who had moved from the 
colonies to Florida before the Revolution were 



(1) CO. 5/561, pp. 359-361. 

(2) CO. 5/561, pp. 359-361. 



191 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

able to return to the United States without the 
stigma of being refugee loyalists/^^ Turnbull 
felt himself lucky to be received cordially in 
Charleston, among this number. He soon 
made a wide reputation in his profession, be- 
coming one of the first members of the South 
Carolina Medical Society.^^^ 

The settling of his affairs at New Smyrna 
continued to be a mournful burden to him, 
however. On May 2, 1786, hearing that Parlia- 
ment had finally decided to reimburse former 
Florida landowners, he made Mr. James Pen- 
man, (then living in London as a merchant) 
attorney for himself and his children, to pre- 
sent their claims for indemnity for the loss of 
their lands in the cession of Florida. ^^^ In De- 
cember of the same year his partners pre- 
sented a memorial of their losses also, to which 
the names of former Florida witnesses were 



(1) Fairbanks' Hist, of Florida, p. 240. 

(2) Address of M. Michel before Med. Soc. South Carolina, Pamphlets 

Q No. 18, Charleston Library. 

(3) T. np. 

192 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

attached. From this List we learn that Tonyn 
had been made a Major General for his 
services, and Grant a Lieutenant General/^^ so 
evidently the ministers w^ere not displeased 
with the final disposition of affairs in Florida. 

On March 14, 1788, Mr. Penman succeeded 
in getting a small part of Turnbull's claim. He 
had filed two, one for Turnbull himself, for 
real property, to the amount of £6462.10. for 
which he received nothing, the other for him- 
self and children for £15057.10. for which he 
received £916.13.4.^^^ Considering that some 
erstwhile Florida landowners died in want 
before help reached them, Turnbull was prob- 
ably fortunate to have recovered the small 
amount he did. At any rate, it was a material 
recognition of his loyalty and good conduct as 
a British subject, after Tonyn's storms of 
abuse had subsided. 

Both Turnbull and Drayton were active men 



(1) T. n p. 

(2) CO. 5/562. Reports of Commissioners for Florida claims. 

193 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

of affairs up to the time of their deaths. Dray- 
ton was appointed Judge of the Admiralty 
Court of South Carolina in 1789, and died the 
following year. Turnbull died two years after- 
wards, March 13, 1792. His will^^^ is a remark- 
able expression of his amiable and generous 
nature. He provided that his wife who was 
eleven years younger than himself, should re- 
main as an executrix of his will whether she 
married again or not, and should inherit two- 
tenths of his estate without the power to give 
it away before her death, ''because her good 
nature and love for her children might induce 
her to part with her share and be in distress." 
Gracia did not marry again, however. In a 
corner of the old portion of St. Philip's church 
yard at Charleston, now seldom unlocked, 
there is a small headstone, which reads: 

"Sacred to the 

Memory of 

Maria Gracia Turnbull, Relict 

and Consort of Dr. Andrew Turnbull. 

She departed this life Aug. 2nd, 

1798, aged 68 years." 

(1) Probate Records, Charleston Co., S. C. Book B, p. 636. 

194 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

No stone of any kind marks Turnbull's 
grave, but his obituary stated that he was to 
be buried there. This quaintly worded docu- 
ment, pubHshed in the Charleston Gazette, 
ends — "his name will long live and his virtues 
be held in the most pleasing remembrance, 
when this inconsiderable tribute of respect to 
his memory will be consigned to oblivion. "^^^ 
The tide of subsequent events made strange 
mock of this remark. For a time everyone for- 
got about Florida. Scattered in other lands — 
back in England, away in Nova Scotia or 
suffering from the jealous policy of their own 
people in Jamaica, the English exiles of 
Florida gave little thought to the bitter feuds 
which had seemed so engrossing to them for 
the last few years of English rule there. A 
force beyond their control had borne down 
upon them and swept them off forever from 
that strenuous, happy life, leaving them no 
connection with it thenceforth. Spain settled 

(1) Charleston City Gazette, March 14, 1792. 

195 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

once more upon her scanty Florida nest, pur- 
sued her usual unenterprising course, and the 
splendid plantations, which had been built up 
with so much blood and toil, sank back into 
the forest, occasionally plundered by Indians, 
but more permanently injured by ignorance 
and neglect. Thirty-seven years afterwards, 
when Spain ceded Florida to the United States, 
of the English occupation there remained 
hardly a scratch upon the unkempt face of the 
wilderness, and the New Smyrna colony had 
become little more than a memory. 



196 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 



ORIGINAL SOURCES 

(Note: References such as CO. 5/544 mean Colonial 
Office, Class 5, Vol. 544; P. C, Privy Council; W.O., War 
Office; A.O., Audit Office; T., Treasury.) 

CO. 5/548 18 June, 1766— Order in Council at 

pp. 363-366 Court of St. James of first land 

grant to Turnbull. 

Pp. 365-367 18 June, 1766— Like order to Sir Wil- 

liam Duncan. 

Pp. 362-367 15 Jan., 1767— Minutes of Council of 

East Fla. Turnbull appointed to 
Council. 

P. 368 17 Jan., 1767— Warrants of survey for 

Turnbull's and Duncan's lands. 

P. 394 23 June, 1767— Warrant of survey 

for 1000 acres for Turnbull. 

Privy Council Regis- 13 May, 1767 — Orders in Council, 
ter, Vol. 112 

CO. 5/541 April, 1767— Turnbull's petition for 

p. 215 the East Florida bounty. 

197 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 



CO. 5/541 
p. 272 

CO. 5/544 
pp. 37-42 

British Transcripts, 
Box 252, Library of 
Congress, Washing- 
ton, D. C 

CO. 5/563 
pp. 226-228 

Privy Council, Regis- 
ter, Vol. 112 



CO. 5/548 



CO. 5/549 
p. 49 

CO. 5/549 
p. 54 



Kings Mss. 211, 
British Museum 

CO. 5/549 
p. 75 



Return of grants of land in East 
Florida between 20 June, 1765 and 
22 June, 1767. 

29 Aug., 1767— Gov. Grant to Hills- 
borough, Turnbull's arrival in 
Florida. 

Mar. 31, 1767— Shelburne to the 
Lords of Trade on advisability of 
Turnbull's colony. 

Apr. 16, 1767 — Endorsement and grant 
of bounty by Lords of Trade for 
Turnbull's colony. 

May 13, 1767— Grant of 5000 acres to 
each of Turnbull's four children. 

May 13, 1767 — Order in Council ap- 
pointing Turnbull to East Florida 
council. 

May 14, 1767 — Shelburne to Gover- 
nor of Florida, granting bounty to 
Turnbull. 

Dec. 25, 1767 — Grant to Hillsborough. 
He had four months' provisions 
awaiting settlers at New Smyrna. 

Feb. 23, 1768— Hillsborough to Grant. 
Thinks Turnbull's plan the best 
idea so far for development of 
Florida. 

1768 Vol. n — Survey ad brief com- 
ment on New Smyrna by Wm. 
Gerard de Brahm. 

Mar. 10, 1768— Hillsborough to Grant. 
Turnbull sailing from Minorca. 



198 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

CO. 5/549 Mar. 12, 1768— Grant to Hillsborough, 

pp. 77-78 Turnbull at Milo on Sept. 24, and 

now expected daily. 

CO. 5/549 May 12, 1768— Hillsborough to Grant, 

p. 81 Turnbull at Gibraltar with 1000 

colonists. 

CO. 5/541 July 2, 1768— Grant to Hillsborough, 

pp. 423-424 TurnbuU's Colony the largest which 

ever came to America in one body. 

CO. 5/541 July 2, 1768— Names of the eight ships 

p. 427 and number of colonists in each, 

1403 people in all. 

CO. 5/544 Aug. 29, 1768— Grant to Hillsborough, 

pp. 37-42 The mutiny at New Smyrna. 

CO. 5/549 Sept. 14, 1768— Hillsborough to Grant, 

p. 262 The King wishes Turnbull success. 

CO. 5/544 Oct. 20, 1768— Grant to Hillsborough, 

pp. 95-96 The leaders of the munity captured. 

CO. 5/544 Dec. 1. 1768— Grant to Hillsborough. 

pp. 99-102 Great size of colony makes gov- 

ernment aid necessary. 

CO. 5/549 Dec. 10, 1768— Hillsborough to Grant. 

p. 339 The King concerned to hear of 

munity and approves Grant's action 
in lending aid to Turnbull. 

CO. 5/544 Jan. 3, 1769— Grant to Hillsborough, 

p. 187 Thinks government aid would be 

needed for such extensive plan. 

CO. 5/544 Jan. 14, 1769— Grant to Hillsborough, 

pp. 192-193 Order restored at New Smyrna 

after two ringleaders in munity 

executed. 



199 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

CO. 5/544 Mar. 4, 1769— Grant to Hillsborough, 

pp. 200-201 Seven miles cleared but money 

needed at New Smyrna. 

CO. 5/550 Mar. 30, 1769—2000 pounds from 

p. 67 British Board of Trade and Planta- 

tions for relief of New Smyrna. 

CO. 5/550 April 3, 1769— Hillsborough to Grant, 

pp. 72-73 Approval of execution of two and 

pardon of rest of mutineers at New 

Smyrna. 

CO. 5/550 June 7, 1769— Hillsborough to Grant. 

p. 97 The King approves of Grant's 

policy at New Smyrna, but warns 
him not to spend beyond Parlia- 
mentary grant. 

CO. 5/544 July 20, 1769— Grant to Hillsborough, 

p. 205 Vines planted and Barilla tried by 

Turnbull. Indigo, cotton and rice 

shipped. 

CO. 5/544 July 21, 1769— Grant to Hillsborough, 

pp. 213-214 Colony has cost proprietors 28,000 

pounds. Too large for private 

undertaking. 

CO. 5/544 Sept. 18, 1769— Grant to Hillsborough, 

pp. 221-222 Relief shall not exceed amount 

granted New Smyrna. 

CO. 5/550 Nov. 4, 1769— Hillsborough to Grant, 

pp. 137-138 Approval of Grant's pardon of three 

mutineers. 

CO. 5/545 Sept. 1, 1770— Grant to Hillsborough. 

pp. 33-34 Turnbull needs 1000 pounds for 

clothes and equipment. Indent in- 
cluded of articles needed. 



200 



I 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

CO. 5/545 Oct. 2, 1770— Grant to Hillsborough. 

p 45 Mr. De Brahm refused to allow let- 

ters to be carried on his vessel, caus- 
ing Grant some trouble with sup- 
plies at New Smyrna. 

CO. 5/551 Dec. 11, 1770— Hillsborough to Grant, 

pp. 157-158 Government cannot grant any fur- 

ther bounty to New Smyrna. 

CO. 5/545 Dec. 14, 1770— Grant to Hillsborough, 

p. 74 Road needed to plantations of 

TurnbuU and others at Mosquitoes. 

CO. 5/552 February 15, 1771— Grant to Hills- 

p. 38 borough. Last of bounty accounted 

for at New Smyrna. 

CO. 5/552 Mar. 8, 1771— Robinson to Pownall. 

p. 25 Lords of Trade cannot grant fur- 

ther bounty to New Smyrna. 

CO. 5/545 Mar. 20, 1771— Grant to Hillsborough, 

p. 81-82 Bounty will not be granted unless 

Hillsborough urges measure before 

Lords of Trade. 

CO. 5/545 Mar. 20, 1771— Grant to Hillsborough. 

p. 85 Turnbull could not be governor on 

account of his colony and will not 
interfere with Moultrie's appoint- 
ment. 

CO. 5/552 April 1, 1771— Hillsborough to Grant. 

p. 30 Regrets inability of government to 

grant further bounty at New 

Smyrna. 

CO. 5/552 May 9, 1771— Turnbull to Grant or 

pp. 97-99 Moultrie. Indians frighten settlers 

at Mosquitoes. 



201 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

CO. 5/552 May 23, 1771— Moultrie to Hills- 

pp. 85-88-89 borough. No cause for anxiety over 

Indians at New Smyrna. 

CO. 5/552 June 6, 1771— Moultrie to McKenzie. 

pp. 101-102 Asks for detachment of troops to 

guard New Smyrna from Indians. 

CO. 5/552 June 6, 1771— McKenzie to Moultrie, 

p. 105 Refuses troops. 

CO. 5/552 June 13, 1771— Moultrie to Hills- 

pp. 91-94 borough. Complains of Turnbuirs 

varying reports and McKenzie's re- 
fusal. 

CO. 5/546 Sept. 25, 1771— Moultrie to Hills- 

pp. 100-101 borough. Fine road completed to 

New Smyrna. 

CO. 5/545 Oct. 20, 1771— Moultrie to Hills- 

p. 123-124 borough. Turnbull's constant resi- 

dence at his colony makes him rare 
attendant in Council. 

CO. 5/552 Dec. 4, 1771— Hillsborough to Moul- 

p. 123 trie. Glad alarm over Indians at 

Mosquitoes has subsided. 

CO. 5/546 Dec. 28, 1771— Moultrie to Hills- 

p. 136 borough. Drayton and Turnbull re- 

sign from Council. 

CO. 5/545 Aug. 20, 1772— Moultrie to Hills- 

pp. 206-207 borough. Mr. Forbes made visiting 

Minister to Mosquitoes. 

CO. 5/545 Feb. 19, 1773— Moultrie to Dartmouth, 

pp. 289-290 Prosperity and good humor at New 

Smyrna. 

202 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 

CO. 5/555 Nov. 23, 1774— Copy of Bryan's let- 

p, 281 ter to Drayton on Indian lands 

dispute. 

CO. 5/555 Dec. 30, 1774— Tonyn to Dartmouth, 

pp. 53-60 Condemns Drayton for part in 

Indian lands quarrel. 

CO. 5/555 Drayton's complete account of Indian 

pp. 227-281 lands question presented to Tonyn. 

CO. 5/556 Nov. 1, 1775— Tonyn to Dartmouth, 

pp. 117-118 Further complaints of Drayton, 

Turnbull and Penman for trying to 

run the province. 

CO. 5/556 Dec. 20, 1775— Address of praise by 

p. 55 Grand Jury headed by Turnbull and 

directed to Drayton. 

CO. 5/556 Feb. 15, 1776— Governor threatens 

pp. 501-502 Turnbull if he sides with Drayton. 

CO. 5/556 Feb. 27. 1776— Address of loyalty to 

pp. 113-115 King headed by Turnbull. 

CO. 5/556 Mar. 4, 1776— Tonyn to Turnbull. 

p. 463 Demands explanation for public 

defense of Drayton. 

CO. 5/556 Mar. 7, 1776— Turnbull to Tonyn. 

p. 105 Two hundred men at New Smyrna 

of military age. 

CO. 5/556 Mar. 15, 1776— Turnbull to Tonyn. 

pp. 89-93 Sarcastic reply to Tonyn's repri- 

mand for siding with Drayton. 

CO. 5/556 Mar. 18, 1776— Tonyn to Turnbull. 

pp. 97-100 Intends to charge him before 

Council. 

203 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

CO. 5/556 Mar. 22, 1776— Tonyn to Germain, 

pp. IZ-ll An opposition loyal address and 

complaints of Drayton's faction. 

CO. 5/556 Mar. 30, 1776— Minutes of East 

pp. 505-512 Florida Council suspending Turn- 

bull, with minority opposition. 

CO. 5/556 Apr. 2, 1776— Tonyn to Germain, 

pp. 495-498 Accuses Turnbull and Drayton of 

disloyalty. 

CO. 5/556 May 10, 1776— Turnbull to Germain, 

p. 109 Presents address and asks audience. 

CO. 5/556 June 14, 1776— Germain to Tonyn. 

pp. 232-235 Reprimand, and full reinstatement 

of Drayton. 

CO. 5/556 July 1, 1776— Turnbull to Germain, 

p. 245 Asks for extension of leave of ab^ 

sence. 

CO. 5/568 July 19, 1776— Tonyn to Germain, 

pp. 337-338 Indian disorders at New Smyrna. 

CO. 5/556 Aug. 21, 1776— Tonyn to Germam. 

p. 744 Can raise only one Company at 

New Smyrna. 

CO. 5/556 Sept. 1, 1776— Turnbull, Jr., to Gor- 

p. 767 don. Unrest at Mosquitoes caused 

by American invasion. 

CO. 5/556 Sept. 10, 1776— Bisset to Tonyn. 

pp. 771-772 Fears disloyalty among Minorcans. 

CO. 5/556 Sept. 8, 1776— Tonyn to Germain. 

p. 765 Has always doubted New Smyrna's 

advantages to province, and now 
finds it in state of unrest. 

204 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 



Lans. Vol. 1919 
fo. 40 

Historical Mss. 
Commission Amer. 
Mss. in Royal 
Institution Vol. 
II, pp. 127-128 

CO. 5/158 
pp. 465-468 

Treasury 77/20(4) 



CO. 5/560 
pp. 289-290 

T. 77/9 



T. nn 
T. np 



CO. 5/561 
pp. 359-361 

T. 77/17 



Mar. 16, 1780— Turnbull to Germain. 
Full arraignment of Tonyn and of 
Germain himself for tolerating him. 

May 27, 1780— Tonyn to Clinton. 
Tries to prejudice him against 
Drayton, Turnbull and Penman. 



June 15, 1781 — Turnbull to Germain. 
Will never return to Florida until 
Tonyn removed from office. 

May, 1780 — Turnbull and Penman 
allowed to remain in Charleston as 
British subjects. 

July 25, 1781 — Tonyn to Germain. 
Evacuation of Florida progressing 
well except for Minorcans. 

Mar. 9 and Oct. 2, 1781— Various 
agreements between Turnbull and 
partners during life of the colony. 

Nov., 1783 — Refugees hiding in many 
of the 100 unburnt buildings at 
New Smyrna. 

May 6, 1784 — Schedule and valuation 
of Grenville, Duncan and Turnbull 
lands in Florida. 

Apr. 4, 1785— Tonyn to Germain. Will 
be no more than 3 or 4 British left 
in Florida. 

May 2, 1786 — Turnbull gives Penman 
power of attorney to try to obtain 
reimbursement from government 



205 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

for loss of land in cession of 
Florida. 

T. Up Dec. 30, 1786— Grenville and Duncan 

heirs file claim for similar reim- 
bursements with full account of the 
business transactions of the colony. 

CO. 5/546 Sept. 19, 1776— Turnbull before 

pp. 49-51 Lords of Trade, with charges 

against Tonyn. 

CO. 5/556 Nov. 6, 1776— Germain to Tonyn. 

pp. 695-697 Reproof for treatment of Turnbull. 

CO. 5/546 Dec. 6, 1776— Another list of charges 

pp. 53-54 against Tonyn by Turnbull. 

CO. 391/83 Dec. 10, 1776— Lords of Trade demand 

p. 20 explanation from Tonyn. 

CO. 5/155 Jan. 30, 1778— Turnbull to Germain. 

Asks reinstatement in office. 

CO. 324/f3 July 11, 1776— King grants extended 

p. 413 leave of absence from Florida to 

Turnbull. 

CO. 5/546 Feb. 17, 1777— Defense of Turnbull to 

pp. 77-85 charges made by Tonyn. (No 

charges regarding Minorcans). 

CO. 5/546 Feb. 17, 1777— Turnbull asks Lords of 

p. 75 Trade to reinstate him in office. 

CO. 5/557 Apr. 14, 1777— Germain to Tonyn. 

pp. 115-121 Reinstatement of Turnbull and re- 

proof for Tonyn. 

CO. 5/557 May 8, 1777— Yonge to Tonyn. 

pp. 225-226 Minorcans file complaints against 

Turnbull. 

206 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 



CO. 5/557 
pp. 479-480 



May 8, 1777 — Affidavits of Minorcans. 



Treasury 11/1 

CO. 5/557 
p. 420 

Historical Mss. 
Commission 
Sackville Mss. 
Vol. II, p. 82 

CO. 5/558 
pp. 101-103-104 

CO. 5/546 
pp. 227-228 

CO. 5/558 
p. 8 



CO. 5/558 
p. 495 

CO. 5/558 
pp. 499-500 

CO. 5/558 
p. 487 

British Tran- 



List of buildings completed by 1777 
at New Smyrna and their cost. 

May 8, 1777 — Tonyn to Germain. 
Paying particular attention to New 
Smyrna. 

Dec. 8, 1777— Turnbull to Germain. 
Tonyn's illegal dealings ruining the 
settlement. 

Dec. 29, 1777— Tonyn to Germain. 
Tries to prove New Smyrna could 
never have been profitable. 

Jan. 19, 1778 — Tonyn to Germain. 
An inaccurate resume of his quar- 
rel with Drayton and Turnbull. 

Feb. 19, 1778— Germain to Tonyn. 
Condemns the encouragement of 
desertion of New Smyrna by set- 
tlers. 

May 4, 1778— Purcell to Tonyn. 
Complains that Turnbull accused 
him of falsehood. 

May 27, 1778— Tonyn to Purcell. 
Pompous defense of Purcell. 

Aug. 7, 1778— Turnbull to Tonyn. 
Intends to live in St. Augustine and 
act as Secretary. 

Aug. 11, 1778— Tonyn to Turnbull. 



207 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 



scripts, Box 252 
Library of Congress 
CO. 5/158 p. 469 

Sackville Mss. 
America, 1755-7 
No. 100 



Refuses to allow him to act as 
Secretary. 

Dec. 8, 1777— Turnbull to Germain. 
A full account of Tonyn's persecu- 
tion of him and bribery among 
Minorcans. 

Aug. 20, 1778 — Tonyn to Germain. 
30 negroes carried off from New 
Smyrna. 

Aug. 27, 1778— Tonyn to Prevost. 
Desires troops to guard Mosqui- 
toes. 

Sept. 26, 1778— Tonyn to Knox. "Will 
be inexpressible satisfaction to be 
of service to the unfortunate part- 
ners of Turnbull." 

Br. Transcripts, Feb. 17, 1780— Order placing Turnbull 

Box 41, folio 47, under arrest. 
Vol. 1219, Lansdowne 
Mss. 



CO. 5/569 
p. 79 

CO. 5/559 
pp. 40-42 

CO. 5/558 
pp. 484-6 



Lans. Mss. Vol. 
1219, folio 49 



Feb. 17, 1780— Demurrer of Turnbull 
to charges made against him. 



Library of Congress, Mar. 14, 1780 — Turnbull to Shelburne. 
Br. Transcripts, Asks letter of introduction to Corn- 
Box 41, Lans. Mss. wallis and tells of his hopelessness 
1219, fo. 34 over the situation. 



Audit Office 
Declared Accts. 
Buncle 1261 
Roll 154 



Mar. 9, 1787— Account by Grant of 
2000 pounds bounty spent at New 
Smyrna, 1769-70. 



208 



THE NEW SMYRNA COLONY OF FLORIDA 



CO. 5/562 



City Gazette and 
Daily Advertiser, 
Charleston, S. C. 

Probate Records, 
Charleston, Co., S. C. 
Book B. p. 636 

S. C. Pamphlets 2, 
No. 18 Charleston 
Library 



Mar. 14, 1788 — Report of Commis- 
sioners for East Florida claims. 
Turnbull received £916. 13. 4. 

Mar. 14, 1792— Obituary of Turnbull. 



Mar. 17, 1792— Will of Turnbull. 



Address of M. Michel before Medical 
Society. Turnbull one of first 
members of Society. 



: Vol. 88, f. 133 

Vol. 52, pp. 294- 
288-289 

Vol. 52, f. 139 

Vol. 52, f. 135 

Vol. 52, f. 147 

Vol. 52, f. 151 

Vol. 52, f. 145 

Vol. 52, f. 155 



LANSDOWNE MSS. 

Sept. 1, 1766— A. Turnbull to E. of 
Shelburne, enclosing Dr. TurnbuU's 
Narrative. 

Jan. 17 and 29, 1767— A. Turnbull to 
E. of Shelburne (abst.) with abstract 
of reply, May 14, 1767. 

May 1, 1767— A. Turnbull to E. of 
Shelburne (abst.) 

July 10, 1767— A. Turnbull to E. of 
Shelburne. 

Feb. 27, 1768— A. Turnbull to E. of 
Shelburne. (Ext. and Abst.) 

Mar. 28, 1768— A. Turnbull to E. of 
Shelburne. (Ext.) 

Apr. 4, 1768— A. Turnbull to E. of 
Shelburne. 

Sept. 24, 1769— A. Turnbull to E. of 
Shelburne. (Ext.) 



209 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

Vol. 52, f. 157 Oct. 3, 1774— A. Turnbull to E. of 

Shelburne. (Ext.) 

Vol. 52, f. 163 Nov. 10, 1777— A. Turnbull to E. of 

Shelburne. (Ext.) 

Vol. 52, f. 173 Dec. 16, 1777— A. Turnbull to E. of 

Shelburne. 

Vol. 52, f. 175 Dec. 23, 1777— A. Turnbull to E. of 

Shelburne. (Ext.) 



210 



SECONDARY SOURCES 

Avarette, Mrs. A, 

The Unwritten History of St. Augustine. 

Bartram, Wm. 

Travels Through North and South Carolina, 
Georgia and East and West Florida. 
London, 1794. 

Brinton, D. G. 

Notes on the Floridian Peninsula. 

Philadelphia, 1859. 
Florida and the South. 

Dewhurst, Wm. W. 

History of Saint Augustine, Florida. 
New York, 1885 

Fairbanks, George R. 

History of Florida. 

1871. 
History and Antiquities of St. Augustine, Florida. 

New York, 1858. 
Spaniards of Florida. 

Forbes 

Sketches, Historical and Topographical of 
the Floridas. 

New York, 1821. 

Lanier, Sidney 

Florida, Its Scenery, Climate and History. 
Philadelphia, 1875. 



211 



DR. ANDREW TURNBULL 

Lecky, Wm. Edward 

A History of England in the Eighteenth Century, 
, Vol. III. 

New York, 1891. 

Mease, James M. 

Bulletin Bl de la Societe De Geographie, 
V. VII. 

Paris, 1827. 

Romans, Capt. Bernard 

A Concise History of East and West Florida. 
New York, 1876. 

^ V ! Schoepf, Johann David 

Travels in the Confederation. 

(Trans, from German by A. J. Morrison). 
Philadelphia, 1911. 

Sewell, R. K. 

Sketches of St. Augustine. 
New York, 1848. 

Stoddard, Major Amos. 

Sketches, Historical and Descriptive, of Louisiana 
Philadelphia, 1812. 

Vignoles, Charles 

Observations upon the Floridas. 
New York, 1823. 

Williams, J. L. 

Territory of Florida. 

New York, 1837. 



212 



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